Acts 1:2

1:2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, ¹  after he had given orders ²  by ³  the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.

Acts 13:17

13:17 The God of this people Israel ⁴  chose our ancestors ⁵  and made the people great ⁶  during their stay as foreigners ⁷  in the country ⁸  of Egypt, and with uplifted arm ⁹  he led them out of it.

Acts 15:7

15:7 After there had been much debate, ¹⁰  Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that some time ago ¹¹  God chose ¹²  me to preach to the Gentiles so they would hear the message ¹³  of the gospel ¹⁴  and believe. ¹⁵ 

[1:2]  ¹ tn The words “to heaven” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied from v. 11. Several modern translations (NIV, NRSV) supply the words “to heaven” after “taken up” to specify the destination explicitly mentioned later in 1:11.

[1:2]  ² tn Or “commands.” Although some modern translations render ἐντειλάμενος (enteilameno") as “instructions” (NIV, NRSV), the word implies authority or official sanction (G. Schrenk, TDNT 2:545), so that a word like “orders” conveys the idea more effectively. The action of the temporal participle is antecedent (prior) to the action of the verb it modifies (“taken up”).

[1:2]  ³ tn Or “through.”

[13:17]  ⁴ tn Or “people of Israel.”

[13:17]  ⁵ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[13:17]  ⁶ tn That is, in both numbers and in power. The implication of greatness in both numbers and in power is found in BDAG 1046 s.v. ὑψόω 2.

[13:17]  ⁷ tn Or “as resident aliens.”

[13:17]  ⁸ tn Or “land.”

[13:17]  ⁹ sn Here uplifted arm is a metaphor for God’s power by which he delivered the Israelites from Egypt. See Exod 6:1, 6; 32:11; Deut 3:24; 4:34; Ps 136:11-12.

[15:7]  ⁷ tn Or “discussion.” This term is repeated from v. 2.

[15:7]  ⁸ tn Or “long ago” (an idiom, literally “from ancient days”). According to L&N 67.26, “this reference to Peter having been chosen by God sometime before to bring the gospel to the Gentiles can hardly be regarded as a reference to ancient times, though some persons understand this to mean that God’s decision was made at the beginning of time. The usage of ἀφ᾿ ἡμερῶν ἀρχαίων is probably designed to emphasize the established nature of God’s decision for Peter to take the gospel to the Gentiles beginning with the centurion Cornelius. The fact that this was relatively early in the development of the church may also serve to explain the use of the idiom.”

[15:7]  ⁹ sn God chose. The theme of God’s sovereign choice is an important point, because 1st century Jews believed Israel’s unique position and customs were a reflection of God’s choice.

[15:7]  ¹⁰ tn Or “word.”

[15:7]  ¹¹ tn Or “of the good news.”

[15:7]  ¹² tn Grk “God chose among you from my mouth the Gentiles to hear the message of the gospel and to believe.” The sense of this sentence in Greek is difficult to render in English. The Greek verb ἐκλέγομαι (eklegomai, “choose”) normally takes a person or thing as a direct object; in this verse the verb has neither clearly stated. The translation understands the phrase “from my mouth,” referring to Peter, as a description of both who God chose and the task to be done. This coupled with the following statement about Gentiles hearing the message of the gospel leads to the more dynamic rendering in the translation.