Acts 13:12

13:12 Then when the proconsul ¹  saw what had happened, he believed, ²  because he was greatly astounded ³  at the teaching about ⁴  the Lord.

Acts 18:12

Paul Before the Proconsul Gallio

18:12 Now while Gallio ⁵  was proconsul ⁶  of Achaia, ⁷  the Jews attacked Paul together ⁸  and brought him before the judgment seat, ⁹ 

Acts 23:24

23:24 and provide mounts for Paul to ride ¹⁰  so that he may be brought safely to Felix ¹¹  the governor.” ¹² 

Acts 23:33

23:33 When the horsemen ¹³  came to Caesarea ¹⁴  and delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented ¹⁵  Paul to him.

Acts 26:30

26:30 So the king got up, and with him the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them,

[13:12]  ¹ sn See the note on proconsul in v. 8.

[13:12]  ² sn He believed. The faith of the proconsul in the face of Jewish opposition is a theme of the rest of Acts. Paul has indeed become “a light to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:47).

[13:12]  ³ tn The translation “greatly astounded” for ἐκπλησσόμενος (ekplhssomeno") is given by L&N 25.219.

[13:12]  ⁴ tn Grk “of,” but this could give the impression the Lord himself had done the teaching (a subjective genitive) when actually the Lord was the object of the teaching (an objective genitive).

[18:12]  ⁵ sn Gallio was proconsul of Achaia from a.d. 51-52. This date is one of the firmly established dates in Acts. Lucius Junius Gallio was the son of the rhetorician Seneca and the brother of Seneca the philosopher. The date of Gallio’s rule is established from an inscription (W. Dittenberger, ed., Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum 2.3 no. 8). Thus the event mentioned here is probably to be dated July-October a.d. 51.

[18:12]  ⁶ sn The proconsul was the Roman official who ruled over a province traditionally under the control of the Roman senate.

[18:12]  ⁷ sn Achaia was a Roman province created in 146 b.c. that included the most important parts of Greece (Attica, Boeotia, and the Peloponnesus).

[18:12]  ⁸ tn Grk “with one accord.”

[18:12]  ⁹ 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), there is no need for an alternative translation here since the bema was a standard feature in Greco-Roman cities of the time.

[23:24]  ⁹ tn Grk “provide mounts to put Paul on.”

[23:24]  ¹⁰ sn Felix the governor was Antonius Felix, a freedman of Antonia, mother of the Emperor Claudius. He was the brother of Pallas and became procurator of Palestine in a.d. 52/53. His administration was notorious for its corruption, cynicism, and cruelty. According to the historian Tacitus (History 5.9) Felix “reveled in cruelty and lust, and wielded the power of a king with the mind of a slave.”

[23:24]  ¹¹ tn Grk “Felix the procurator.” The official Roman title has been translated as “governor” (BDAG 433 s.v. ἡγεμών 2).

[23:33]  ¹³ tn Grk “who, coming to Caesarea.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek construction, a new sentence was begun here in the translation. The relative pronoun (“who”) has been replaced with the referent (the horsemen) in the translation for clarity.

[23:33]  ¹⁴ 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. It was about 30 mi (50 km) from Antipatris.

[23:33]  ¹⁵ tn BDAG 778 s.v. παρίστημι/παριστάνω 1.b has “present, represent – α. lit. τινά τινι someone to someone παρέστησαν τὸν Παῦλον αὐτῷ Ac 23:33.”