Acts 12:6

12:6 On that very night before Herod was going to bring him out for trial, ¹  Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, while ²  guards in front of the door were keeping watch ³  over the prison.

Acts 16:37

16:37 But Paul said to the police officers, ⁴  “They had us beaten in public ⁵  without a proper trial ⁶  – even though we are Roman citizens ⁷  – and they threw us ⁸  in prison. And now they want to send us away ⁹  secretly? Absolutely not! They ¹⁰  themselves must come and escort us out!” ¹¹ 

[12:6]  ¹ tn Grk “was going to bring him out,” but the upcoming trial is implied. See Acts 12:4.

[12:6]  ² tn Grk “two chains, and.” Logically it makes better sense to translate this as a temporal clause, although technically it is a coordinate clause in Greek.

[12:6]  ³ tn Or “were guarding.”

[16:37]  ⁴ tn Grk “to them”; the referent (the police officers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:37]  ⁵ tn Grk “Having us beaten in public.” The participle δείραντες (deirante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[16:37]  ⁶ tn Or “in public, uncondemned.” BDAG 35 s.v. ἀκατάκριτος has “uncondemned, without due process” for this usage.

[16:37]  ⁷ tn The participle ὑπάρχοντας (Juparconta") has been translated as a concessive adverbial participle.

[16:37]  ⁸ tn The word “us” 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.

[16:37]  ⁹ tn L&N 28.71 has “send us away secretly” for this verse.

[16:37]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “But they.”

[16:37]  ¹¹ sn They themselves must come and escort us out! Paul was asking for the injustice he and Silas suffered to be symbolically righted. It was a way of publicly taking their actions off the record and showing the apostles’ innocence, a major public statement. Note the apology given in v. 39.