Acts 1:1

Jesus Ascends to Heaven

1:1 I wrote ¹  the former ²  account, ³  Theophilus, ⁴  about all that Jesus began to do and teach

Acts 1:5

1:5 For ⁵  John baptized with water, but you ⁶  will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Acts 2:41

2:41 So those who accepted ⁷  his message ⁸  were baptized, and that day about three thousand people ⁹  were added. ¹⁰ 

Acts 5:41

5:41 So they left the council rejoicing because they had been considered worthy ¹¹  to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name. ¹² 

Acts 9:7

9:7 (Now the men ¹³  who were traveling with him stood there speechless, ¹⁴  because they heard the voice but saw no one.) ¹⁵ 

Acts 13:4

Paul and Barnabas Preach in Cyprus

13:4 So Barnabas and Saul, ¹⁶  sent out by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia, ¹⁷  and from there they sailed to Cyprus. ¹⁸ 

Acts 15:30

15:30 So when they were dismissed, ¹⁹  they went down to Antioch, ²⁰  and after gathering the entire group ²¹  together, they delivered the letter.

Acts 17:12

17:12 Therefore many of them believed, along with quite a few ²²  prominent ²³  Greek women and men.

Acts 17:30

17:30 Therefore, although God has overlooked ²⁴  such times of ignorance, ²⁵  he now commands all people ²⁶  everywhere to repent, ²⁷ 

Acts 17:32

17:32 Now when they heard about ²⁸  the resurrection from the dead, some began to scoff, ²⁹  but others said, “We will hear you again about this.”

Acts 23:22

23:22 Then the commanding officer ³⁰  sent the young man away, directing him, ³¹  “Tell no one that you have reported ³²  these things to me.”

Acts 23:31

23:31 So the soldiers, in accordance with their orders, ³³  took ³⁴  Paul and brought him to Antipatris ³⁵  during the night.

Acts 25:4

25:4 Then Festus ³⁶  replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea, ³⁷  and he himself intended to go there ³⁸  shortly.

Acts 26:9

26:9 Of course, ³⁹  I myself was convinced ⁴⁰  that it was necessary to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus the Nazarene.

[1:1]  ¹ tn Or “produced,” Grk “made.”

[1:1]  ² tn Or “first.” The translation “former” is preferred because “first” could imply to the modern English reader that the author means that his previous account was the first one to be written down. The Greek term πρῶτος (prwtos) does not necessarily mean “first” in an absolute sense, but can refer to the first in a set or series. That is what is intended here – the first account (known as the Gospel of Luke) as compared to the second one (known as Acts).

[1:1]  ³ tn The Greek word λόγος (logos) is sometimes translated “book” (NRSV, NIV) or “treatise” (KJV). A formal, systematic treatment of a subject is implied, but the word “book” may be too specific and slightly misleading to the modern reader, so “account” has been used.

[1:1]  ⁴ tn Grk “O Theophilus,” but the usage of the vocative in Acts with ὦ (w) is unemphatic, following more the classical idiom (see ExSyn 69).

[1:5]  ⁵ tn In the Greek text v. 5 is a continuation of the previous sentence, which is long and complicated. In keeping with the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:5]  ⁶ tn The pronoun is plural in Greek.

[2:41]  ⁹ tn Or “who acknowledged the truth of.”

[2:41]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “word.”

[2:41]  ¹¹ tn Grk “souls” (here an idiom for the whole person).

[2:41]  ¹² tn Or “were won over.”

[5:41]  ¹³ sn That is, considered worthy by God. They “gloried in their shame” of honoring Jesus with their testimony (Luke 6:22-23; 2 Macc 6:30).

[5:41]  ¹⁴ sn The name refers to the name of Jesus (cf. 3 John 7).

[9:7]  ¹⁷ tn The Greek term here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which is used only rarely in a generic sense of both men and women. In the historical setting here, Paul’s traveling companions were almost certainly all males.

[9:7]  ¹⁸ tn That is, unable to speak because of fear or amazement. See BDAG 335 s.v. ἐνεός.

[9:7]  ¹⁹ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. Acts 22:9 appears to indicate that they saw the light but did not hear a voice. They were “witnesses” that something happened.

[13:4]  ²¹ tn Grk “they”; the referents (Barnabas and Saul) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:4]  ²² sn Seleucia was the port city of Antioch in Syria.

[13:4]  ²³ sn Cyprus was a large island in the Mediterranean off the south coast of Asia Minor.

[15:30]  ²⁵ tn Or “sent away.”

[15:30]  ²⁶ sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia).

[15:30]  ²⁷ tn Or “congregation” (referring to the group of believers).

[17:12]  ²⁹ tn Grk “not a few”; this use of negation could be misleading to the modern English reader, however, and so has been translated as “quite a few” (which is the actual meaning of the expression).

[17:12]  ³⁰ tn Or “respected.”

[17:30]  ³³ tn Or “has deliberately paid no attention to.”

[17:30]  ³⁴ tn Or “times when people did not know.”

[17:30]  ³⁵ tn Here ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") has been translated as a generic noun (“people”).

[17:30]  ³⁶ sn He now commands all people everywhere to repent. God was now asking all mankind to turn to him. No nation or race was excluded.

[17:32]  ³⁷ tn The participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") has been taken temporally.

[17:32]  ³⁸ tn L&N 33.408 has “some scoffed (at him) Ac 17:32” for ἐχλεύαζον (ecleuazon) here; the imperfect verb has been translated as an ingressive imperfect (“began to scoff”).

[23:22]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 10.

[23:22]  ⁴² tn BDAG 760 s.v. παραγγέλλω has “to make an announcement about someth. that must be done, give orders, command, instruct, direct of all kinds of persons in authority, worldly rulers, Jesus, the apostles…παραγγέλλειν w. an inf. and μή comes to mean forbid to do someth.: π. τινί w. aor. inf. Lk 5:14; 8:56; without the dat., which is easily supplied fr. the context Ac 23:22.” However, if the direct discourse which follows is to be retained in the translation, a different translation must be used since it is awkward to introduce direct discourse with the verb to forbid. Thus the alternative to direct was used.

[23:22]  ⁴³ tn On this verb, see BDAG 325-26 s.v. ἐμφανίζω 2. The term was frequently used of an official report to authorities. In modern terms, this was a police tip.

[23:31]  ⁴⁵ tn BDAG 237-38 s.v. διατάσσω 2 has “κατὰ τὸ δ. αὐτοῖς in accordance w. their orders…Ac 23:31.”

[23:31]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “taking.” The participle ἀναλαβόντες (analabonte") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[23:31]  ⁴⁷ sn Antipatris was a city in Judea about 35 mi (55 km) northwest of Jerusalem (about halfway to Caesarea). It was mentioned several times by Josephus (Ant. 13.15.1 [13.390]; J. W. 1.4.7 [1.99]).

[25:4]  ⁴⁹ sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.

[25:4]  ⁵⁰ sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi). See the note on Caesarea in Acts 10:1.

[25:4]  ⁵¹ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text but is implied.

[26:9]  ⁵³ tn BDAG 737 s.v. οὖν 3 states, “It has been proposed that some traces of older Gk. usage in which οὖν is emphatic, = certainly, really, to be sure etc. (s. L-S-J-M s.v. 1) remain in the pap…and in the NT…indeed, of course Ac 26:9.”

[26:9]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “I thought to myself.” BDAG 255 s.v. δοκέω 2.a has “ἔδοξα ἐμαυτῷ δεῖν πρᾶξαι = Lat. mihi videbar I was convinced that it was necessary to do Ac 26:9.”