Acts 10:1

Peter Visits Cornelius

10:1 Now there was a man in Caesarea ¹  named Cornelius, a centurion ²  of what was known as the Italian Cohort. ³ 

Acts 10:24-25

10:24 The following day ⁴  he entered Caesarea. ⁵  Now Cornelius was waiting anxiously ⁶  for them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 10:25 So when ⁷  Peter came in, Cornelius met ⁸  him, fell ⁹  at his feet, and worshiped ¹⁰  him.

Acts 10:30

10:30 Cornelius ¹¹  replied, ¹²  “Four days ago at this very hour, at three o’clock in the afternoon, ¹³  I was praying in my house, and suddenly ¹⁴  a man in shining clothing stood before me

Acts 10:22

10:22 They said, “Cornelius the centurion, ¹⁵  a righteous ¹⁶  and God-fearing man, well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, ¹⁷  was directed by a holy angel to summon you to his house and to hear a message ¹⁸  from you.”

[10:1]  ¹ sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi). It was known as “Caesarea by the sea” (BDAG 499 s.v. Καισάρεια 2). Largely Gentile, it was a center of Roman administration and the location of many of Herod the Great’s building projects (Josephus, Ant. 15.9.6 [15.331-341]).

[10:1]  ² sn A centurion was a noncommissioned officer in the Roman army or one of the auxiliary territorial armies, commanding a centuria of (nominally) 100 men. The responsibilities of centurions were broadly similar to modern junior officers, but there was a wide gap in social status between them and officers, and relatively few were promoted beyond the rank of senior centurion. The Roman troops stationed in Judea were auxiliaries, who would normally be rewarded with Roman citizenship after 25 years of service. Some of the centurions may have served originally in the Roman legions (regular army) and thus gained their citizenship at enlistment. Others may have inherited it, like Paul.

[10:1]  ³ sn A cohort was a Roman military unit of about 600 soldiers, one-tenth of a legion (BDAG 936 s.v. σπεῖρα). The Italian Cohort has been identified as cohors II Italica which is known to have been stationed in Syria in a.d. 88.

[10:24]  ⁴ tn Grk “On the next day,” but since this phrase has already occurred in v. 23, it would be redundant in English to use it again here.

[10:24]  ⁵ sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi).

[10:24]  ⁶ tn Normally προσδοκάω (prosdokaw) means “to wait with apprehension or anxiety for something,” often with the implication of impending danger or trouble (L&N 25.228), but in this context the anxiety Cornelius would have felt came from the importance of the forthcoming message as announced by the angel.

[10:25]  ⁷ tn Grk “So it happened that when.” 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.

[10:25]  ⁸ tn Grk “meeting him.” The participle συναντήσας (sunanthsa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[10:25]  ⁹ tn Grk “falling at his feet, worshiped.” The participle πεσών (peswn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[10:25]  ¹⁰ sn When Cornelius worshiped Peter, it showed his piety and his respect for Peter, but it was an act based on ignorance, as Peter’s remark in v. 26 indicates.

[10:30]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “And Cornelius.” 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.

[10:30]  ¹¹ tn Grk “said.”

[10:30]  ¹² tn Grk “at the ninth hour.” Again, this is the hour of afternoon prayer.

[10:30]  ¹³ tn Grk “and behold.” The interjection ἰδού (idou) is difficult at times to translate into English. Here it has been translated as “suddenly” to convey the force of Cornelius’ account of the angel’s appearance.

[10:22]  ¹³ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[10:22]  ¹⁴ tn Or “just.”

[10:22]  ¹⁵ tn The phrase τοῦ ἔθνους τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων (tou eqnou" twn Ioudaiwn) is virtually a technical term for the Jewish nation (1 Macc 10:25; 11:30, 33; Josephus, Ant. 14.10.22 [14.248]). “All the Jewish people,” while another possible translation of the Greek phrase, does not convey the technical sense of a reference to the nation in English.

[10:22]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “hear words.”