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 4:2

4:2 angry ⁵  because they were teaching the people and announcing ⁶  in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.

Acts 4:18

4:18 And they called them in and ordered ⁷  them not to speak or teach at all in the name ⁸  of Jesus.

Acts 5:30

5:30 The God of our forefathers ⁹  raised up Jesus, whom you seized and killed by hanging him on a tree. ¹⁰ 

Acts 5:42

5:42 And every day both in the temple courts ¹¹  and from house to house, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the good news ¹²  that Jesus was the Christ. ¹³ 

Acts 7:59

7:59 They ¹⁴  continued to stone Stephen while he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”

Acts 8:16

8:16 (For the Spirit ¹⁵  had not yet come upon ¹⁶  any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) ¹⁷ 

Acts 9:5

9:5 So he said, “Who are you, Lord?” He replied, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting!

Acts 9:20

9:20 and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, ¹⁸  saying, “This man is the Son of God.” ¹⁹ 

Acts 10:36

10:36 You know ²⁰  the message ²¹  he sent to the people ²²  of Israel, proclaiming the good news of peace ²³  through ²⁴  Jesus Christ ²⁵  (he is Lord ²⁶  of all) –

Acts 10:48

10:48 So he gave orders to have them baptized ²⁷  in the name of Jesus Christ. ²⁸  Then they asked him to stay for several days.

Acts 15:26

15:26 who ²⁹  have risked their lives ³⁰  for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ³¹ 

Acts 16:31

16:31 They replied, ³²  “Believe ³³  in the Lord Jesus ³⁴  and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Acts 18:28

18:28 for he refuted the Jews vigorously ³⁵  in public debate, ³⁶  demonstrating from the scriptures that the Christ ³⁷  was Jesus. ³⁸ 

Acts 20:21

20:21 testifying ³⁹  to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus. ⁴⁰ 

Acts 26:9

26:9 Of course, ⁴¹  I myself was convinced ⁴²  that it was necessary to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus the Nazarene.

Acts 28:31

28:31 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ ⁴³  with complete boldness ⁴⁴  and without restriction. ⁴⁵ 

[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).

[4:2]  ⁵ tn Or “greatly annoyed,” “provoked.”

[4:2]  ⁶ tn Or “proclaiming.”

[4:18]  ⁹ tn Or “commanded.”

[4:18]  ¹⁰ sn In the name of Jesus. Once again, the “name” reflects the person. The person of Jesus and his authority is the “troubling” topic that, as far as the Jewish leadership is concerned, needs controlling.

[5:30]  ¹³ tn Or “ancestors”; Grk “fathers.”

[5:30]  ¹⁴ tn Or “by crucifying him” (“hang on a tree” is by the time of the first century an idiom for crucifixion). The allusion is to the judgment against Jesus as a rebellious figure, appealing to the language of Deut 21:23. The Jewish leadership has badly “misjudged” Jesus.

[5:42]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “temple.” This is actually a reference to the courts surrounding the temple proper and has been translated accordingly.

[5:42]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “teaching and evangelizing.” They were still obeying God, not men (see 4:18-20; 5:29).

[5:42]  ¹⁹ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[7:59]  ²¹ tn Grk “And they.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, καί (kai) has not been translated here; a new sentence is begun instead.

[8:16]  ²⁵ tn Grk “For he”; the referent (the Spirit) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:16]  ²⁶ tn Or “fallen on.”

[8:16]  ²⁷ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[9:20]  ²⁹ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[9:20]  ³⁰ tn The ὅτι (Joti) is understood to introduce direct (“This man is the Son of God”) rather than indirect discourse (“that this man is the Son of God”) because the pronoun οὗτος (Jouto") combined with the present tense verb ἐστιν (estin) suggests the contents of what was proclaimed are a direct (albeit summarized) quotation.

[10:36]  ³³ tn The subject and verb (“you know”) do not actually occur until the following verse, but have been repeated here because of the requirements of English word order.

[10:36]  ³⁴ tn Grk “the word.”

[10:36]  ³⁵ tn Grk “to the sons.”

[10:36]  ³⁶ sn Peace is a key OT concept: Isa 52:7; Nah 1:15; also for Luke: Luke 1:79; 2:14; Acts 9:31. See also the similar phrase in Eph 2:17.

[10:36]  ³⁷ tn Or “by.”

[10:36]  ³⁸ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[10:36]  ³⁹ sn He is Lord of all. Though a parenthetical remark, this is the theological key to the speech. Jesus is Lord of all, so the gospel can go to all. The rest of the speech proclaims Jesus’ authority.

[10:48]  ³⁷ tn The Greek construction (passive infinitive with accusative subject) could be translated either “he ordered them to be baptized” or “he ordered that they be baptized,” but the implication in English in either case is that Peter was giving orders to the Gentiles in Cornelius’ house, telling them to get baptized. It is much more likely in the context that Peter was ordering those Jewish Christians who accompanied him to baptize the new Gentile converts. They would doubtless have still had misgivings even after witnessing the outpouring of the Spirit and hearing the tongues. It took Peter’s apostolic authority (“ordered”) to convince them to perform the baptisms.

[10:48]  ³⁸ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.” Jesus’ right to judge as the provider of forgiveness is highlighted here.

[15:26]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “men who”; but this can be misleading because in English the referent could be understood to be the men sent along with Barnabas and Paul rather than Barnabas and Paul themselves. This option does not exist in the Greek original, however, since ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") is dative and must agree with “Barnabas and Paul,” while ἄνδρας (andra") is accusative. By omitting the word “men” from the translation here, it is clear in English that the phrase refers to the immediately preceding nouns “Barnabas and Paul.”

[15:26]  ⁴² tn Grk “who have risked their souls”; the equivalent English idiom is “risk one’s life.” The descriptions commend Barnabas and Paul as thoroughly trustworthy.

[15:26]  ⁴³ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[16:31]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “said.”

[16:31]  ⁴⁶ sn Here the summary term of response is a call to believe. In this context it refers to trusting the sovereign God’s power to deliver, which events had just pictured for the jailer.

[16:31]  ⁴⁷ tc The majority of mss add Χριστόν (Criston, “Christ”) here (C D E Ψ 1739 Ï sy sa), but the best and earliest witnesses read simply τὸν κύριον ᾿Ιησοῦν (ton kurion Ihsoun, “the Lord Jesus”; Ì^74vid א A B 33 81 pc bo). The addition of “Christ” to “Lord Jesus” is an obviously motivated reading. Thus on both external and internal grounds, the shorter reading is strongly preferred.

[18:28]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “vehemently.” BDAG 414 s.v. εὐτόνως has “vigorously, vehemently…εὐ. διακατελέγχεσθαί τινι refute someone vigorously Ac 18:28.”

[18:28]  ⁵⁰ tn L&N 33.442 translates the phrase τοῖς ᾿Ιουδαίοις διακατηλέγχετο δημοσίᾳ (toi" Ioudaioi" diakathlenceto dhmosia) as “he defeated the Jews in public debate.” On this use of the term δημόσιος (dhmosio") see BDAG 223 s.v. 2.

[18:28]  ⁵¹ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.” Again the issue is identifying the Christ as Jesus (see 5:42; 8:5; 9:22; 18:5).

[18:28]  ⁵² tn Although many English translations have here “that Jesus was the Christ,” in the case of two accusatives following a copulative infinitive, the first would normally be the subject and the second the predicate nominative. Additionally, the first accusative here (τὸν χριστόν, ton criston) has the article, a further indication that it should be regarded as subject of the infinitive.

[20:21]  ⁵³ tn BDAG 233 s.v. διαμαρτύρομαι 1 has “testify of, bear witness to (orig. under oath)…of repentance to Judeans and Hellenes Ac 20:21.”

[20:21]  ⁵⁴ tc Several mss, including some of the more important ones (Ì⁷⁴ א Α C [D] E 33 36 323 945 1175 1241 1505 1739 pm and a number of versions), read Χριστόν (Criston, “Christ”) at the end of this verse. This word is lacking in B H L P Ψ 614 pm. Although the inclusion is supported by many earlier and better mss, internal evidence is on the side of the omission: In Acts, both “Lord Jesus” and “Lord Jesus Christ” occur, though between 16:31 and the end of the book “Lord Jesus Christ” appears only in 28:31, perhaps as a kind of climactic assertion. Thus, the shorter reading is to be preferred.

[26:9]  ⁵⁷ 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]  ⁵⁸ 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.”

[28:31]  ⁶¹ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[28:31]  ⁶² tn Or “openness.”

[28:31]  ⁶³ sn Proclaiming…with complete boldness and without restriction. Once again Paul’s imprisonment is on benevolent terms. The word of God is proclaimed triumphantly and boldly in Rome. Acts ends with this note: Despite all the attempts to stop it, the message goes forth.