Acts 1:8

1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts ¹  of the earth.”

Acts 1:22

1:22 beginning from his baptism by John until the day he ²  was taken up from us – one of these must become a witness of his resurrection together with us.”

Acts 3:15

3:15 You killed ³  the Originator ⁴  of life, whom God raised ⁵  from the dead. To this fact we are witnesses! ⁶ 

Acts 5:32

5:32 And we are witnesses of these events, ⁷  and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey ⁸  him.”

Acts 10:39-41

10:39 We ⁹  are witnesses of all the things he did both in Judea ¹⁰  and in Jerusalem. ¹¹  They ¹²  killed him by hanging him on a tree, ¹³  10:40 but ¹⁴  God raised him up on the third day and caused him to be seen, ¹⁵  10:41 not by all the people, but by us, the witnesses God had already chosen, ¹⁶  who ate and drank ¹⁷  with him after he rose from the dead.

Acts 22:15

22:15 because you will be his witness ¹⁸  to all people ¹⁹  of what you have seen and heard.

Luke 1:2

1:2 like the accounts ²⁰  passed on ²¹  to us by those who were eyewitnesses and servants of the word ²²  from the beginning. ²³ 

Hebrews 2:3-4

2:3 how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first communicated through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him, 2:4 while God confirmed their witness ²⁴  with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed ²⁵  according to his will.

Hebrews 2:1

Warning Against Drifting Away

2:1 Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

Hebrews 1:1-3

Introduction: God Has Spoken Fully and Finally in His Son

1:1 After God spoke long ago ²⁶  in various portions ²⁷  and in various ways ²⁸  to our ancestors ²⁹  through the prophets, 1:2 in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, ³⁰  whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world. ³¹  1:3 The Son is ³²  the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, ³³  and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. ³⁴ 

[1:8]  ¹ tn Or “to the ends.”

[1:22]  ² tn Here the pronoun “he” refers to Jesus.

[3:15]  ³ tn Or “You put to death.”

[3:15]  ⁴ tn Or “Founder,” “founding Leader.”

[3:15]  ⁵ sn Whom God raised. God is the main actor here, as he testifies to Jesus and vindicates him.

[3:15]  ⁶ tn Grk “whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.” The two consecutive relative clauses make for awkward English style, so the second was begun as a new sentence with the words “to this fact” supplied in place of the Greek relative pronoun to make a complete sentence in English.

[5:32]  ⁷ tn Or “things.” They are preaching these things even to the hostile leadership.

[5:32]  ⁸ sn Those who obey. The implication, of course, is that the leadership is disobeying God.

[10:39]  ⁹ tn Grk “And we.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[10:39]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the land of the Jews,” but this is similar to the phrase used as the name of the province of Judea in 1 Macc 8:3 (see BDAG 1093-94 s.v. χώρα 2.b).

[10:39]  ¹¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[10:39]  ¹² tn Grk “in Jerusalem, whom they killed.” The relative pronoun was replaced by the pronoun “him” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style, due to the length of the sentence in Greek.

[10:39]  ¹³ tn Or “by crucifying him” (“hang on a tree” is by the time of the 1st 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.

[10:40]  ¹⁴ tn The conjunction “but” is not in the Greek text, but the contrast is clearly implied in the context. This is technically asyndeton, or lack of a connective, in Greek.

[10:40]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “and granted that he should become visible.” The literal Greek idiom is somewhat awkward in English. L&N 24.22 offers the translation “caused him to be seen” for this verse.

[10:41]  ¹⁶ tn Or “the witnesses God had previously chosen.” See Acts 1:8.

[10:41]  ¹⁷ sn Ate and drank. See Luke 24:35-49.

[22:15]  ¹⁸ tn Or “a witness to him.”

[22:15]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “all men,” but this is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo").

[1:2]  ²⁰ tn Grk “even as”; this compares the recorded tradition of 1:1 with the original eyewitness tradition of 1:2.

[1:2]  ²¹ tn Or “delivered.”

[1:2]  ²² sn The phrase eyewitnesses and servants of the word refers to a single group of people who faithfully passed on the accounts about Jesus. The language about delivery (passed on) points to accounts faithfully passed on to the early church.

[1:2]  ²³ tn Grk “like the accounts those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word passed on to us.” The location of “in the beginning” in the Greek shows that the tradition is rooted in those who were with Jesus from the start.

[2:4]  ²⁴ tn Grk “God bearing witness together” (the phrase “with them” is implied).

[2:4]  ²⁵ tn Grk “and distributions of the Holy Spirit.”

[1:1]  ²⁶ tn Or “spoke formerly.”

[1:1]  ²⁷ tn Or “parts.” The idea is that God’s previous revelation came in many parts and was therefore fragmentary or partial (L&N 63.19), in comparison with the final and complete revelation contained in God’s Son. However, some interpret πολυμερῶς (polumerw") in Heb 1:1 to mean “on many different occasions” and would thus translate “many times” (L&N 67.11). This is the option followed by the NIV: “at many times and in various ways.” Finally, this word is also understood to refer to the different manners in which something may be done, and would then be translated “in many different ways” (L&N 89.81). In this last case, the two words πολυμερῶς and πολυτρόπως (polutropw") mutually reinforce one another (“in many and various ways,” NRSV).

[1:1]  ²⁸ tn These two phrases are emphasized in Greek by being placed at the beginning of the sentence and by alliteration.

[1:1]  ²⁹ tn Grk “to the fathers.”

[1:2]  ³⁰ tn The Greek puts an emphasis on the quality of God’s final revelation. As such, it is more than an indefinite notion (“a son”) though less than a definite one (“the son”), for this final revelation is not just through any son of God, nor is the emphasis specifically on the person himself. Rather, the focus here is on the nature of the vehicle of God’s revelation: He is no mere spokesman (or prophet) for God, nor is he merely a heavenly messenger (or angel); instead, this final revelation comes through one who is intimately acquainted with the heavenly Father in a way that only a family member could be. There is, however, no exact equivalent in English (“in son” is hardly good English style).

[1:2]  ³¹ tn Grk “the ages.” The temporal (ages) came to be used of the spatial (what exists in those time periods). See Heb 11:3 for the same usage.

[1:3]  ³² tn Grk “who being…and sustaining.” Heb 1:1-4 form one skillfully composed sentence in Greek, but it must be broken into shorter segments to correspond to contemporary English usage, which does not allow for sentences of this length and complexity.

[1:3]  ³³ tn Grk “by the word of his power.”

[1:3]  ³⁴ sn An allusion to Ps 110:1, quoted often in Hebrews.