Acts 12:18

12:18 At daybreak ¹  there was great consternation ²  among the soldiers over what had become of Peter.

Acts 17:12

17:12 Therefore many of them believed, along with quite a few ³  prominent ⁴  Greek women and men.

Acts 19:24

19:24 For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines ⁵  of Artemis, ⁶  brought a great deal ⁷  of business ⁸  to the craftsmen.

[12:18]  ¹ tn BDAG 436 s.v. ἡμέρα 1.a has “day is breaking” for ἡμέρα γίνεται (Jhmera ginetai) in this verse.

[12:18]  ² tn Grk “no little consternation.” The translation given for τάραχος (taraco") in this verse by BDAG 991 s.v. τάραχος 1 is “mental agitation.” The situation indicated by the Greek word is described in L&N 25.243 as “a state of acute distress and great anxiety, with the additional possible implications of dismay and confusion – ‘great distress, extreme anxiety.’” The English word “consternation” is preferred here because it conveys precisely such a situation of anxiety mixed with fear. The reason for this anxiety is explained in the following verse.

[17:12]  ³ tn Grk “not a few”; this use of negation could be misleading to the modern English reader, however, and so has been translated as “quite a few” (which is the actual meaning of the expression).

[17:12]  ⁴ tn Or “respected.”

[19:24]  ⁵ tn BDAG 665 s.v. ναός 1.a states, “Specif. of temples: of replicas of the temple of Artemis at Ephesus 19:24…but here, near ἱερόν vs. 27…ναός can be understood in the more restricted sense shrine, where the image of the goddess stood.”

[19:24]  ⁶ sn Artemis was the name of a Greek goddess worshiped particularly in Asia Minor, whose temple, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was located just outside the city of Ephesus.

[19:24]  ⁷ tn Grk “brought not a little business” (an idiom).

[19:24]  ⁸ sn A great deal of business. The charge that Christianity brought economic and/or social upheaval was made a number of times in Acts: 16:20-21; 17:6-7; 18:13.