Acts 13:41

13:41 ‘Look, you scoffers; be amazed and perish! ¹ 

For I am doing a work in your days,

a work you would never believe, even if someone tells you.’” ² 

Acts 15:3

15:3 So they were sent on their way by the church, and as they passed through both Phoenicia ³  and Samaria, they were relating at length ⁴  the conversion of the Gentiles and bringing great joy ⁵  to all the brothers.

[13:41]  ¹ tn Or “and die!”

[13:41]  ² sn A quotation from Hab 1:5. The irony in the phrase even if someone tells you, of course, is that Paul has now told them. So the call in the warning is to believe or else face the peril of being scoffers whom God will judge. The parallel from Habakkuk is that the nation failed to see how Babylon’s rising to power meant perilous judgment for Israel.

[15:3]  ³ sn Phoenicia was an area along the Mediterranean coast north of Palestine in ancient Syria.

[15:3]  ⁴ tn L&N 33.201 indicates that ἐκδιηγέομαι (ekdihgeomai) means to provide detailed information in a systematic manner, “to inform, to relate, to tell fully.” “Relating at length” conveys this effectively in the present context.

[15:3]  ⁵ tn For ἐποίουν (epoioun) in this verse BDAG 839 s.v. ποιέω 2.c has “they brought joy to the members.”