Acts 11:20-30

11:20 But there were some men from Cyprus ¹  and Cyrene ²  among them who came ³  to Antioch ⁴  and began to speak to the Greeks ⁵  too, proclaiming the good news of the Lord Jesus. 11:21 The ⁶  hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed ⁷  turned ⁸  to the Lord. 11:22 A report ⁹  about them came to the attention ¹⁰  of the church in Jerusalem, ¹¹  and they sent Barnabas ¹²  to Antioch. ¹³  11:23 When ¹⁴  he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain true ¹⁵  to the Lord with devoted hearts, ¹⁶  11:24 because he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a significant number of people ¹⁷  were brought to the Lord. 11:25 Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to look for Saul, 11:26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. ¹⁸  So ¹⁹  for a whole year Barnabas and Saul ²⁰  met with the church and taught a significant number of people. ²¹  Now it was in Antioch ²²  that the disciples were first called Christians. ²³ 

Famine Relief for Judea

11:27 At that time ²⁴  some ²⁵  prophets ²⁶  came down ²⁷  from Jerusalem ²⁸  to Antioch. ²⁹  11:28 One of them, named Agabus, got up ³⁰  and predicted ³¹  by the Spirit that a severe ³²  famine ³³  was about to come over the whole inhabited world. ³⁴  (This ³⁵  took place during the reign of Claudius.) ³⁶  11:29 So the disciples, each in accordance with his financial ability, ³⁷  decided ³⁸  to send relief ³⁹  to the brothers living in Judea. 11:30 They did so, ⁴⁰  sending their financial aid ⁴¹  to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

[11:20]  ¹ sn Cyprus was a large island in the Mediterranean off the south coast of Asia Minor.

[11:20]  ² sn Cyrene was a city on the northern African coast west of Egypt.

[11:20]  ³ tn Grk “among them, coming to Antioch began to speak.” The participle ἐλθόντες (elqonte") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[11:20]  ⁴ sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). See the note in 11:19.

[11:20]  ⁵ sn The statement that some men from Cyprus and Cyrene…began to speak to the Greeks shows that Peter’s experience of reaching out to the Gentiles was not unique.

[11:21]  ⁶ tn Grk “And the.” 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.

[11:21]  ⁷ tn The participle πιστεύσας (pisteusa") is articular and thus cannot be adverbial. It is adjectival, modifying ἀριθμός (ariqmo"), but has been translated into English as a relative clause (“who believed”).

[11:21]  ⁸ sn Again, the expression turned is a summary term for responding to the gospel.

[11:22]  ⁹ tn Grk “Word.”

[11:22]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “was heard in the ears,” an idiom. L&N 24.67 states that the idiom means “to hear in secret” (which it certainly does in Matt 10:27), but secrecy does not seem to be part of the context here, and there is no particular reason to suggest the report was made in secret.

[11:22]  ¹¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[11:22]  ¹² tc ‡ Most mss read the infinitive “to travel” after “Barnabas.” διελθεῖν (dielqein) is found before ἕως (Jews) in D E Ψ 33 Ï and some versional mss. It is lacking in Ì⁷⁴ א A B 81 1739 pc and some versional mss. Although the infinitive with ἕως fits Lukan style, it has the appearance of a scribal clarification. The infinitive has the earmarks of a Western expansion on the text and thus is unlikely to be original. NA²⁷ has the infinitive in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.

[11:22]  ¹³ sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). See the note in 11:19. Again the Jerusalem church exercised an oversight role.

[11:23]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “Antioch, who when.” The relative pronoun was omitted 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.

[11:23]  ¹⁵ tn BDAG 883 s.v. προσμένω 1.a.β has “remain true to the Lord” for προσμένειν (prosmenein) in this verse.

[11:23]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “with purpose of heart”; BDAG 869 s.v. πρόθεσις 2.a translates this phrase “purpose of heart, i.e. devotion” here.

[11:24]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “a significant crowd.”

[11:26]  ¹⁸ sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). See the note in 11:19.

[11:26]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “So 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.

[11:26]  ²⁰ tn Grk “year they”; the referents (Barnabas and Saul) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:26]  ²¹ tn Grk “a significant crowd.”

[11:26]  ²² sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). See the note in 11:19.

[11:26]  ²³ sn The term Christians appears only here, in Acts 26:28, and 1 Pet 4:16 in the NT.

[11:27]  ²⁴ tn Grk “In these days,” but the dative generally indicates a specific time.

[11:27]  ²⁵ tn The word “some” is not in the Greek text, but is usually used in English when an unspecified number is mentioned.

[11:27]  ²⁶ sn Prophets are mentioned only here and in 13:1 and 21:10 in Acts.

[11:27]  ²⁷ sn Came down from Jerusalem. Antioch in Syria lies due north of Jerusalem. In Western languages it is common to speak of north as “up” and south as “down,” but the NT maintains the Hebrew idiom which speaks of any direction away from Jerusalem as down (since Mount Zion was thought of in terms of altitude).

[11:27]  ²⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[11:27]  ²⁹ sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). See the note in 11:19.

[11:28]  ³⁰ tn Grk “getting up, predicted.” The participle ἀναστάς (anasta") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[11:28]  ³¹ tn Or “made clear”; Grk “indicated beforehand” (BDAG 920 s.v. σημαίνω 2).

[11:28]  ³² tn Grk “great.”

[11:28]  ³³ sn This famine is one of the firmly fixed dates in Acts. It took place from a.d. 45-48. The events described in chap. 11 of Acts occurred during the early part of that period.

[11:28]  ³⁴ tn Or “whole Roman Empire.” While the word οἰκουμένη (oikoumenh) does occasionally refer specifically to the Roman Empire, BDAG 699 s.v. οἰκουνένη 2 does not list this passage (only Acts 24:5 and 17:6).

[11:28]  ³⁵ tn Grk “world, which.” The relative pronoun (“which”) was replaced by the demonstrative pronoun “this” 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.

[11:28]  ³⁶ sn This is best taken as a parenthetical note by the author. Claudius was the Roman emperor Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus, known as Claudius, who ruled from a.d. 41-54.

[11:29]  ³⁷ tn So BDAG 410 s.v. εὐπορέω.

[11:29]  ³⁸ tn Or “determined,” “resolved.”

[11:29]  ³⁹ tn Grk “to send [something] for a ministry,” but today it is common to speak of sending relief for victims of natural disasters.

[11:30]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “Judea, which they did.” The relative pronoun was omitted 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.

[11:30]  ⁴¹ tn The words “their financial aid” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.