Acts 12:19

12:19 When Herod ¹  had searched ²  for him and did not find him, he questioned ³  the guards and commanded that they be led away to execution. ⁴  Then ⁵  Herod ⁶  went down from Judea to Caesarea ⁷  and stayed there.

Acts 15:35

15:35 But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, ⁸  teaching and proclaiming (along with many others) ⁹  the word of the Lord. ¹⁰ 

Acts 16:12

16:12 and from there to Philippi, ¹¹  which is a leading city of that district ¹²  of Macedonia, ¹³  a Roman colony. ¹⁴  We stayed in this city for some days.

Acts 20:6

20:6 We ¹⁵  sailed away from Philippi ¹⁶  after the days of Unleavened Bread, ¹⁷  and within five days ¹⁸  we came to the others ¹⁹  in Troas, ²⁰  where we stayed for seven days.

Acts 14:3

14:3 So they stayed there ²¹  for a considerable time, speaking out courageously for the Lord, who testified ²²  to the message ²³  of his grace, granting miraculous signs ²⁴  and wonders to be performed through their hands.

Acts 25:6

25:6 After Festus ²⁵  had stayed ²⁶  not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea, ²⁷  and the next day he sat ²⁸  on the judgment seat ²⁹  and ordered Paul to be brought.

Acts 25:14

25:14 While ³⁰  they were staying there many days, Festus ³¹  explained Paul’s case to the king to get his opinion, ³²  saying, “There is a man left here as a prisoner by Felix.

[12:19]  ¹ sn King Herod was Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod I (Herod the Great).

[12:19]  ² tn Or “had instigated a search” (Herod would have ordered the search rather than conducting it himself).

[12:19]  ³ tn “Questioned” is used to translate ἀνακρίνας (anakrina") here because a possible translation offered by BDAG 66 s.v. ἀνακρίνω for this verse is “examined,” which could be understood to mean Herod inspected the guards rather than questioned them. The translation used by the NIV, “cross-examined,” also avoids this possible misunderstanding.

[12:19]  ⁴ tn The meaning “led away to execution” for ἀπαχθῆναι (apacqhnai) in this verse is given by BDAG 95 s.v. ἀπάγω 2.c. Although an explicit reference to execution is lacking here, it is what would usually occur in such a case (Acts 16:27; 27:42; Code of Justinian 9.4.4). “Led away to torture” is a less likely option (Pliny the Younger, Letters 10, 96, 8).

[12:19]  ⁵ tn Grk “and,” but the sequence of events is better expressed in English by “then.” A new sentence is begun in the translation because of the length of the sentence in Greek, which exceeds normal English sentence length.

[12:19]  ⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Herod) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Since Herod has been the subject of the preceding material, and the circumstances of his death are the subject of the following verses (20-23), it is best to understand Herod as the subject here. This is especially true since according to Josephus, Ant. 19.8.2 [19.343-352], Herod Agrippa I died at Caesarea in a.d. 44, and vv. 20-23 here describe his death. Thus the end of v. 19 provides Luke’s transition to explain how Herod got from Jerusalem to Caesarea where he died. In spite of all this evidence, the NRSV translates this phrase “Then Peter went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there,” understanding the referent to be Peter rather than Herod Agrippa I.

[12:19]  ⁷ 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.

[15:35]  ⁸ sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia).

[15:35]  ⁹ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[15:35]  ¹⁰ sn The word of the Lord is a technical expression in OT literature, often referring to a divine prophetic utterance (e.g., Gen 15:1, Isa 1:10, Jonah 1:1). In the NT it occurs 15 times: 3 times as ῥῆμα τοῦ κυρίου (rJhma tou kuriou; Luke 22:61, Acts 11:16, 1 Pet 1:25) and 12 times as λόγος τοῦ κυρίου (logo" tou kuriou; here and in v. 36; Acts 8:25; 13:44, 48, 49; 16:32; 19:10, 20; 1 Thess 1:8, 4:15; 2 Thess 3:1). As in the OT, this phrase focuses on the prophetic nature and divine origin of what has been said.

[16:12]  ¹⁵ map For location see JP1 C1; JP2 C1; JP3 C1; JP4 C1.

[16:12]  ¹⁶ tc ‡ Or perhaps, “a city in the first district” (there are a number of textual variants). L&N 1.85 follow the text of UBS⁴ and NA²⁷ here: “In Ac 16:12…the Greek New Testament published by the United Bible Societies has adopted a conjectural emendation, since the more traditional text, πρώτη τῆς μερίδος, literally ‘first of the district,’ is not only misleading in meaning but does not reflect the historical fact that Philippi was a city in one of the four districts of Macedonia but was not a capital city.” The original text is probably πρώτη τῆς μερίδος (prwth th" merido", “first of that district”) as found in Ì⁷⁴ א A C Ψ 33^vid 36 81 323 945 1175 1891 pc. This has traditionally been translated to give the impression that Philippi was the capital city of the district, but it does not necessarily have to be translated this way. The translation of the article before μερίδος as “that” acknowledges that there were other districts in the province of Macedonia.

[16:12]  ¹⁷ sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.

[16:12]  ¹⁸ sn A Roman colony was a city whose residents were regarded as Roman citizens, since such cities were originally colonized by citizens of Rome. From Troas to Philippi was 130 mi (208 km).

[20:6]  ²² sn This marks the beginning of another “we” section in Acts. These have been traditionally understood to mean that Luke was in the company of Paul for this part of the journey.

[20:6]  ²³ map For location see JP1 C1; JP2 C1; JP3 C1; JP4 C1.

[20:6]  ²⁴ sn The days of Unleavened Bread refer to the week following Passover. Originally an agricultural festival commemorating the beginning of harvest, it was celebrated for seven days beginning on the fifteenth day of the month Nisan (March-April). It was later combined with Passover (Exod 12:1-20; Ezek 45:21-24; Matt 26:17; Luke 22:1).

[20:6]  ²⁵ tn BDAG 160 s.v. ἄχρι 1.a.α has “ἄ. ἡμερῶν πέντε within five days Ac 20:6.”

[20:6]  ²⁶ tn Grk “to them”; the referent (the others mentioned in v. 4) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:6]  ²⁷ sn Troas was a port city (and surrounding region) on the northwest coast of Asia Minor. From Philippi to Troas was about 125 mi (200 km).

[14:3]  ²⁹ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[14:3]  ³⁰ sn The Lord testified to the message by granting the signs described in the following clause.

[14:3]  ³¹ tn Grk “word.”

[14:3]  ³² tn Here the context indicates the miraculous nature of the signs mentioned.

[25:6]  ³⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Festus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:6]  ³⁷ tn Grk “Having stayed.” The participle διατρίψας (diatriya") has been taken temporally.

[25:6]  ³⁸ 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.

[25:6]  ³⁹ tn Grk “sitting down…he ordered.” The participle καθίσας (kaqisa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[25:6]  ⁴⁰ tn Although BDAG 175 s.v. βῆμα 3 gives the meaning “tribunal” for this verse, and a number of modern translations use similar terms (“court,” NIV; “tribunal,” NRSV), since the bhma was a standard feature in Greco-Roman cities of the time, there is no need for an alternative translation here.

[25:14]  ⁴³ tn BDAG 1105-6 s.v. ὡς 8.b states, “w. pres. or impf. while, when, as long as…Ac 1:10; 7:23; 9:23; 10:17; 13:25; 19:9; 21:27; 25:14.”

[25:14]  ⁴⁴ sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.

[25:14]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “Festus laid Paul’s case before the king for consideration.” BDAG 74 s.v. ἀνατίθημι 2 states, “otherw. only mid. to lay someth. before someone for consideration, declare, communicate, refer w. the added idea that the pers. to whom a thing is ref. is asked for his opinion lay someth. before someone for consideration…Ac 25:14.”