Acts 1:16

1:16 “Brothers, ¹  the scripture had to be fulfilled that the Holy Spirit foretold through ²  David concerning Judas – who became the guide for those who arrested Jesus –

Acts 5:3

5:3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled ³  your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back for yourself part of the proceeds from the sale of ⁴  the land?

Acts 5:9

5:9 Peter then told her, “Why have you agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out!”

Acts 8:39

8:39 Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any more, but ⁵  went on his way rejoicing. ⁶ 

Acts 11:12

11:12 The Spirit told me to accompany them without hesitation. These six brothers ⁷  also went with me, and we entered the man’s house.

Acts 13:2

13:2 While they were serving ⁸  the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart ⁹  for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

Acts 16:16

Paul and Silas Are Thrown Into Prison

16:16 Now ¹⁰  as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit that enabled her to foretell the future by supernatural means. ¹¹  She ¹²  brought her owners ¹³  a great profit by fortune-telling. ¹⁴ 

Acts 19:16

19:16 Then the man who was possessed by ¹⁵  the evil spirit jumped on ¹⁶  them and beat them all into submission. ¹⁷  He prevailed ¹⁸  against them so that they fled from that house naked and wounded.

Acts 20:28

20:28 Watch out for ¹⁹  yourselves and for all the flock of which ²⁰  the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, ²¹  to shepherd the church of God ²²  that he obtained ²³  with the blood of his own Son. ²⁴ 

Acts 23:9

23:9 There was a great commotion, ²⁵  and some experts in the law ²⁶  from the party of the Pharisees stood up ²⁷  and protested strongly, ²⁸  “We find nothing wrong ²⁹  with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”

Acts 28:25

28:25 So they began to leave, ³⁰  unable to agree among themselves, after Paul made one last statement: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly to your ancestors ³¹  through the prophet Isaiah

[1:16]  ¹ tn Grk “Men brothers.” In light of the compound phrase ἄνδρες ἀδελφοί (andre" adelfoi, “Men brothers”) Peter’s words are best understood as directly addressed to the males present, possibly referring specifically to the twelve (really ten at this point – eleven minus the speaker, Peter) mentioned by name in v. 13.

[1:16]  ² tn Grk “foretold by the mouth of.”

[5:3]  ³ sn This is a good example of the Greek verb fill (πληρόω, plhrow) meaning “to exercise control over someone’s thought and action” (cf. Eph 5:18).

[5:3]  ⁴ tn The words “from the sale of” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to clarify the meaning, since the phrase “proceeds from the land” could possibly be understood as crops rather than money from the sale.

[8:39]  ⁵ tn BDAG 189 s.v. γάρ 2 indicates that under certain circumstances γάρ (gar) has the same meaning as δέ (de).

[8:39]  ⁶ sn Note that the response to the gospel is rejoicing (joy, cf. Acts 11:23; 13:48).

[11:12]  ⁷ sn Six witnesses is three times more than what would normally be required. They could confirm the events were not misrepresented by Peter.

[13:2]  ⁹ tn This term is frequently used in the LXX of the service performed by priests and Levites in the tabernacle (Exod 28:35, 43; 29:30; 30:20; 35:19; 39:26; Num 1:50; 3:6, 31) and the temple (2 Chr 31:2; 35:3; Joel 1:9, 13; 2:17, and many more examples). According to BDAG 591 s.v. λειτουργέω 1.b it is used “of other expression of religious devotion.” Since the previous verse described the prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch, it is probable that the term here describes two of them (Barnabas and Saul) as they were serving in that capacity. Since they were not in Jerusalem where the temple was located, general religious service is referred to here.

[13:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “Appoint.”

[16:16]  ¹¹ tn Grk “Now it happened that.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[16:16]  ¹² tn Or “who had a spirit of divination”; Grk “who had a spirit of Python.” According to BDAG 896-97 s.v. πύθων, originally Πύθων (Puqwn) was the name of the serpent or dragon that guarded the Delphic oracle. According to Greek mythology, it lived at the foot of Mount Parnassus and was killed by Apollo. From this, the word came to designate a person who was thought to have a spirit of divination. Pagan generals, for example, might consult someone like this. So her presence here suggests a supernatural encounter involving Paul and her “spirit.” W. Foerster, TDNT 6:920, connects the term with ventriloquism but states: “We must assume, however, that for this girl, as for those mentioned by Origen…, the art of ventriloquism was inseparably connected with a (supposed or authentic) gift of soothsaying.” It should also be noted that if the girl in question here were only a ventriloquist, the exorcism performed by Paul in v. 18 would not have been effective.

[16:16]  ¹³ tn Grk “who.” Because of the awkwardness in English of having two relative clauses follow one another (“who had a spirit…who brought her owners a great profit”) the relative pronoun here (“who”) has been translated as a pronoun (“she”) and a new sentence begun in the translation.

[16:16]  ¹⁴ tn Or “masters.”

[16:16]  ¹⁵ tn On this term see BDAG 616 s.v. μαντεύομαι. It was used of those who gave oracles.

[19:16]  ¹³ tn Grk “in whom the evil spirit was.”

[19:16]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “the man in whom the evil spirit was, jumping on them.” The participle ἐφαλόμενος (efalomeno") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. L&N 15.239 has “ἐφαλόμενος ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐπ᾿ αὐτούς ‘the man jumped on them’ Ac 19:16.”

[19:16]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “and beating them all into submission.” The participle κατακυριεύσας (katakurieusa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. According to W. Foerster, TDNT 3:1098, the word means “the exercise of dominion against someone, i.e., to one’s own advantage.” These exorcists were shown to be powerless in comparison to Jesus who was working through Paul.

[19:16]  ¹⁶ tn BDAG 484 s.v. ἰσχύω 3 has “win out, prevail…κατά τινος over, against someone Ac 19:16.”

[20:28]  ¹⁵ tn Or “Be on your guard for” (cf. v. 29). Paul completed his responsibility to the Ephesians with this warning.

[20:28]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “in which.”

[20:28]  ¹⁷ tn Or “guardians.” BDAG 379-80 s.v. ἐπίσκοπος 2 states, “The term was taken over in Christian communities in ref. to one who served as overseer or supervisor, with special interest in guarding the apostolic tradition…Ac 20:28.” This functional term describes the role of the elders (see v. 17). They were to guard and shepherd the congregation.

[20:28]  ¹⁸ tc The reading “of God” (τοῦ θεοῦ, tou qeou) is found in א B 614 1175 1505 al vg sy; other witnesses have “of the Lord” (τοῦ κυρίου, tou kuriou) here (so Ì⁷⁴ A C* D E Ψ 33 1739 al co), while the majority of the later minuscule mss conflate these two into “of the Lord and God” (τοῦ κυρίου καὶ [τοῦ] θεοῦ, tou kuriou kai [tou] qeou). Although the evidence is evenly balanced between the first two readings, τοῦ θεοῦ is decidedly superior on internal grounds. The final prepositional phrase of this verse, διὰ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ ἰδίου (dia tou {aimato" tou idiou), could be rendered “through his own blood” or “through the blood of his own.” In the latter translation, the object that “own” modifies must be supplied (see tn below for discussion). But this would not be entirely clear to scribes; those who supposed that ἰδίου modified αἵματος would be prone to alter “God” to “Lord” to avoid the inference that God had blood. In a similar way, later scribes would be prone to conflate the two titles, thereby affirming the deity (with the construction τοῦ κυρίου καὶ θεοῦ following the Granville Sharp rule and referring to a single person [see ExSyn 272, 276-77, 290]) and substitutionary atonement of Christ. For these reasons, τοῦ θεοῦ best explains the rise of the other readings and should be considered authentic.

[20:28]  ¹⁹ tn Or “acquired.”

[20:28]  ²⁰ tn Or “with his own blood”; Grk “with the blood of his own.” The genitive construction could be taken in two ways: (1) as an attributive genitive (second attributive position) meaning “his own blood”; or (2) as a possessive genitive, “with the blood of his own.” In this case the referent is the Son, and the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. See further C. F. DeVine, “The Blood of God,” CBQ 9 (1947): 381-408.

[23:9]  ¹⁷ tn Or “clamor” (cf. BDAG 565 s.v. κραυγή 1.a, which has “there arose a loud outcry” here, and Exod 12:30).

[23:9]  ¹⁸ tn Or “and some scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 4:5.

[23:9]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “standing up.” The participle ἀναστάντες (anastante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[23:9]  ²⁰ tn Grk “protested strongly, saying.” L&N 39.27 has “διαμάχομαι: to fight or contend with, involving severity and thoroughness – ‘to protest strongly, to contend with.’…‘some scribes from the party of the Pharisees protested strongly’ Ac 23:9.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant and has not been translated.

[23:9]  ²¹ sn “We find nothing wrong with this man.” Here is another declaration of innocence. These leaders recognized the possibility that Paul might have the right to make his claim.

[28:25]  ¹⁹ tn The imperfect verb ἀπελύοντο (apeluonto) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.

[28:25]  ²⁰ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”