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 24:23

24:23 He ordered the centurion ⁴  to guard Paul, ⁵  but to let him have some freedom, ⁶  and not to prevent any of his friends ⁷  from meeting his needs. ⁸ 

Acts 27:6

27:6 There the centurion ⁹  found ¹⁰  a ship from Alexandria ¹¹  sailing for Italy, and he put us aboard it.

Acts 27:11

27:11 But the centurion ¹²  was more convinced ¹³  by the captain ¹⁴  and the ship’s owner than by what Paul said. ¹⁵ 

Acts 21:32

21:32 He ¹⁶  immediately took ¹⁷  soldiers and centurions ¹⁸  and ran down to the crowd. ¹⁹  When they saw ²⁰  the commanding officer ²¹  and the soldiers, they stopped beating ²²  Paul.

Acts 22:25-26

22:25 When they had stretched him out for the lash, ²³  Paul said to the centurion ²⁴  standing nearby, “Is it legal for you to lash a man who is a Roman citizen ²⁵  without a proper trial?” ²⁶  22:26 When the centurion ²⁷  heard this, ²⁸  he went to the commanding officer ²⁹  and reported it, ³⁰  saying, “What are you about to do? ³¹  For this man is a Roman citizen.” ³² 

Acts 23:17

23:17 Paul called ³³  one of the centurions ³⁴  and said, “Take this young man to the commanding officer, ³⁵  for he has something to report to him.”

Acts 27:1

Paul and Company Sail for Rome

27:1 When it was decided we ³⁶  would sail to Italy, ³⁷  they handed over Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion ³⁸  of the Augustan Cohort ³⁹  named Julius.

Acts 27:31

27:31 Paul said to the centurion ⁴⁰  and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you ⁴¹  cannot be saved.”

Acts 23:23

23:23 Then ⁴²  he summoned ⁴³  two of the centurions ⁴⁴  and said, “Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea ⁴⁵  along with seventy horsemen ⁴⁶  and two hundred spearmen ⁴⁷  by ⁴⁸  nine o’clock tonight, ⁴⁹ 

Acts 27:43

27:43 But the centurion, ⁵⁰  wanting to save Paul’s life, ⁵¹  prevented them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land, ⁵² 

Acts 10:22

10:22 They said, “Cornelius the centurion, ⁵³  a righteous ⁵⁴  and God-fearing man, well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, ⁵⁵  was directed by a holy angel to summon you to his house and to hear a message ⁵⁶  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.

[24:23]  ⁴ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[24:23]  ⁵ tn Grk “that he was to be guarded.” The passive construction (τηρεῖσθαι, threisqai) has been converted to an active one in parallel with the following clauses, and the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:23]  ⁶ tn BDAG 77 s.v. ἄνεσις 1 states, “lit. relaxation of custodial control, some liberty, ἀ. ἔχειν have some freedom Ac 24:23.”

[24:23]  ⁷ tn Grk “any of his own” (this could also refer to relatives).

[24:23]  ⁸ tn Grk “from serving him.”

[27:6]  ⁷ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[27:6]  ⁸ tn Grk “finding.” The participle εὑρών (Jeurwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[27:6]  ⁹ sn Alexandria (modern Alexandria) was a great city of northern Egypt which was a center for grain trade to Rome. Therefore this type of travel connection was common at the time. For a winter journey (considered hazardous) there were special bonuses and insurance provided (Suetonius, Life of Claudius 18.1-2).

[27:11]  ¹⁰ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[27:11]  ¹¹ tn Or “persuaded.”

[27:11]  ¹² tn BDAG 456 s.v. κυβερνήτης 1 has “one who is responsible for the management of a ship, shipmaster…W. ναύκληρος, the ‘shipowner’…Ac 27:11” See further L. Casson, Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World, 316-18.

[27:11]  ¹³ tn Grk “than by what was said by Paul.” The passive construction has been converted to an active one to simplify the translation.

[21:32]  ¹³ tn Grk “who.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences, the relative pronoun (“who”) was translated as a pronoun (“he”) and a new sentence was begun here in the translation.

[21:32]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “taking…ran down.” The participle κατέδραμεν (katedramen) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[21:32]  ¹⁵ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[21:32]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “to them”; the referent (the crowd) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:32]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “seeing.” The participle ἰδόντες (idonte") has been taken temporally.

[21:32]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 31.

[21:32]  ¹⁹ sn The mob stopped beating Paul because they feared the Romans would arrest them for disturbing the peace and for mob violence. They would let the Roman officials take care of the matter from this point on.

[22:25]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “for the thongs” (of which the lash was made). Although often translated as a dative of means (“with thongs”), referring to thongs used to tie the victim to the whipping post, BDAG 474-75 s.v. ἱμάς states that it “is better taken as a dat. of purpose for the thongs, in which case οἱ ἱμάντες = whips (Posidonius: 87 fgm. 5 Jac.; POxy. 1186, 2 τὴν διὰ τῶν ἱμάντων αἰκείαν. – Antiphanes 74, 8, Demosth. 19, 197 and Artem. 1, 70 use the sing. in this way).”

[22:25]  ¹⁷ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[22:25]  ¹⁸ tn The word “citizen” is supplied here for emphasis and clarity.

[22:25]  ¹⁹ tn Or “a Roman citizen and uncondemned.” BDAG 35 s.v. ἀκατάκριτος has “uncondemned, without due process” for this usage.

[22:26]  ¹⁹ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[22:26]  ²⁰ tn The word “this” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[22:26]  ²¹ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 24.

[22:26]  ²² tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[22:26]  ²³ tn Or perhaps, “What do you intend to do?” Although BDAG 627 s.v. μέλλω 1.c.α lists this phrase under the category “be about to, be on the point of,” it is possible it belongs under 1.c.γ, “denoting an intended action: intend, propose, have in mind…τί μέλλεις ποιεῖν; what do you intend to do?”

[22:26]  ²⁴ tn The word “citizen” is supplied here for emphasis and clarity.

[23:17]  ²² tn Grk “calling…Paul said.” The participle προσκαλεσάμενος (proskalesameno") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[23:17]  ²³ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[23:17]  ²⁴ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 10.

[27:1]  ²⁵ sn The last “we” section in Acts begins here and extends to 28:16 (the previous one ended at 21:18).

[27:1]  ²⁶ sn Sail to Italy. This voyage with its difficulty serves to show how God protected Paul on his long journey to Rome. From the perspective of someone in Palestine, this may well picture “the end of the earth” quite literally (cf. Acts 1:8).

[27:1]  ²⁷ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[27:1]  ²⁸ tn According to BDAG 917 s.v. σεβαστός, “In σπεῖρα Σεβαστή 27:1 (cp. OGI 421) Σεβαστή is likew. an exact transl. of Lat. Augusta, an honorary title freq. given to auxiliary troops (Ptolem. renders it Σεβαστή in connection w. three legions that bore it: 2, 3, 30; 2, 9, 18; 4, 3, 30) imperial cohort.” According to W. Foerster (TDNT 7:175), “In Ac. 27:1 the σπεῖρα Σεβαστή is an expression also found elsewhere for ‘auxiliary troops.’” In no case would this refer to a special imperial bodyguard, and to translate “imperial regiment” or “imperial cohort” might give this impression. There is some archaeological evidence for a Cohors Augusta I stationed in Syria during the time of Augustus, but whether this is the same unit is very debatable.

[27:31]  ²⁸ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[27:31]  ²⁹ sn The pronoun you is plural in Greek.

[23:23]  ³¹ tn Grk “And.” Since this represents a response to the reported ambush, καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the logical sequence.

[23:23]  ³² tn Grk “summoning…he said.” The participle προσκαλεσάμενος (proskalesameno") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[23:23]  ³³ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[23:23]  ³⁴ sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi). See the note on Caesarea in Acts 10:1. This was a journey of about 65 mi (just over 100 km).

[23:23]  ³⁵ tn Or “cavalrymen.”

[23:23]  ³⁶ tn A military technical term of uncertain meaning. BDAG 217 s.v. δεξιολάβος states, “a word of uncertain mng., military t.t., acc. to Joannes Lydus…and Theophyl. Sim., Hist. 4, 1 a light-armed soldier, perh. bowman, slinger; acc. to a scholion in CMatthaei p. 342 body-guard….Spearman Goodspd., NRSV; ‘security officer’, GDKilpatrick, JTS 14, ’63, 393f.”

[23:23]  ³⁷ tn Grk “from.”

[23:23]  ³⁸ tn Grk “from the third hour of the night.”

[27:43]  ³⁴ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[27:43]  ³⁵ tn Or “wanting to rescue Paul.”

[27:43]  ³⁶ tn BDAG 347 s.v. I. ἔξειμι has “ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν get to land Ac 27:43.”

[10:22]  ³⁷ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[10:22]  ³⁸ tn Or “just.”

[10:22]  ³⁹ 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]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “hear words.”