Acts 14:14-15

14:14 But when the apostles ¹  Barnabas and Paul heard about ²  it, they tore ³  their clothes and rushed out ⁴  into the crowd, shouting, ⁵  14:15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We too are men, with human natures ⁶  just like you! We are proclaiming the good news to you, so that you should turn ⁷  from these worthless ⁸  things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, ⁹  the sea, and everything that is in them.

Isaiah 42:8

The Lord Intervenes

42:8 I am the Lord! That is my name!

I will not share my glory with anyone else,

or the praise due me with idols.

Isaiah 48:13

48:13 Yes, my hand founded the earth;

my right hand spread out the sky.

I summon them;

they stand together.

Matthew 4:10

4:10 Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, ¹⁰  Satan! For it is written: ‘You are to worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” ¹¹ 

Matthew 4:2

4:2 After he fasted forty days and forty nights he was famished. ¹² 

Matthew 2:3-4

2:3 When King Herod ¹³  heard this he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him. 2:4 After assembling all the chief priests and experts in the law, ¹⁴  he asked them where the Christ ¹⁵  was to be born.

Revelation 13:8

13:8 and all those who live on the earth will worship the beast, ¹⁶  everyone whose name has not been written since the foundation of the world ¹⁷  in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was killed. ¹⁸ 

Revelation 19:10

19:10 So ¹⁹  I threw myself down ²⁰  at his feet to worship him, but ²¹  he said, “Do not do this! ²²  I am only ²³  a fellow servant ²⁴  with you and your brothers ²⁵  who hold to the testimony about ²⁶  Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

Revelation 22:9

22:9 But ²⁷  he said to me, “Do not do this! ²⁸  I am a fellow servant ²⁹  with you and with your brothers the prophets, and with those who obey ³⁰  the words of this book. Worship God!”

[14:14]  ¹ sn The apostles Barnabas and Paul. This is one of only two places where Luke calls Paul an apostle, and the description here is shared with Barnabas. This is a nontechnical use here, referring to a commissioned messenger.

[14:14]  ² tn The participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") is taken temporally.

[14:14]  ³ tn Grk “tearing their clothes they rushed out.” The participle διαρρήξαντες (diarrhxante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. This action is a Jewish response to blasphemy (m. Sanhedrin 7.5; Jdt 14:16-17).

[14:14]  ⁴ tn So BDAG 307 s.v. ἐκπηδάω 1, “rush (lit. ‘leap’) out…εἰς τὸν ὄχλον into the crowd Ac 14:14.”

[14:14]  ⁵ tn Grk “shouting and saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes, in v. 15) has not been translated because it is redundant.

[14:15]  ⁶ tn Grk “with the same kinds of feelings,” L&N 25.32. BDAG 706 s.v. ὁμοιοπαθής translates the phrase “with the same nature τινί as someone.” In the immediate context, the contrast is between human and divine nature, and the point is that Paul and Barnabas are mere mortals, not gods.

[14:15]  ⁷ tn Grk “in order that you should turn,” with ἐπιστρέφειν (epistrefein) as an infinitive of purpose, but this is somewhat awkward contemporary English. To translate the infinitive construction “proclaim the good news, that you should turn,” which is much smoother English, could give the impression that the infinitive clause is actually the content of the good news, which it is not. The somewhat less formal “to get you to turn” would work, but might convey to some readers manipulativeness on the part of the apostles. Thus “proclaim the good news, so that you should turn,” is used, to convey that the purpose of the proclamation of good news is the response by the hearers. The emphasis here is like 1 Thess 1:9-10.

[14:15]  ⁸ tn Or “useless,” “futile.” The reference is to idols and idolatry, worshiping the creation over the Creator (Rom 1:18-32). See also 1 Kgs 16:2, 13, 26; 2 Kgs 17:15; Jer 2:5; 8:19; 3 Macc 6:11.

[14:15]  ⁹ tn Grk “and the earth, and the sea,” but καί (kai) has not been translated before “the earth” and “the sea” since contemporary English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[4:10]  ¹⁰ tc The majority of later witnesses (C² D L Z 33 Ï) have “behind me” (ὀπίσω μου; opisw mou) after “Go away.” But since this is the wording in Matt 16:23, where the text is certain, scribes most likely added the words here to conform to the later passage. Further, the shorter reading has superior support (א B C*^vid K P W Δ 0233 Ë^1,13 565 579* 700 al). Thus, both externally and internally, the shorter reading is strongly preferred.

[4:10]  ¹¹ sn A quotation from Deut 6:13. The word “only” is an interpretive expansion not found in either the Hebrew or Greek (LXX) text of the OT.

[4:2]  ¹² tn Grk “and having fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward he was hungry.”

[2:3]  ¹³ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.

[2:4]  ¹⁴ tn Or “and scribes of the people.” The traditional rendering of γραμματεύς (grammateu") as “scribe” does not communicate much to the modern English reader, for whom the term might mean “professional copyist,” if it means anything at all. The people referred to here were recognized experts in the law of Moses and in traditional laws and regulations. Thus “expert in the law” comes closer to the meaning for the modern reader.

[2:4]  ¹⁵ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[13:8]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “it”; the referent (the beast) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:8]  ¹⁷ tn The prepositional phrase “since the foundation of the world” is traditionally translated as a modifier of the immediately preceding phrase in the Greek text, “the Lamb who was killed” (so also G. B. Caird, Revelation [HNTC], 168), but it is more likely that the phrase “since the foundation of the world” modifies the verb “written” (as translated above). Confirmation of this can be found in Rev 17:8 where the phrase “written in the book of life since the foundation of the world” occurs with no ambiguity.

[13:8]  ¹⁸ tn Or “slaughtered”; traditionally, “slain.”

[19:10]  ¹⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the angel’s announcement.

[19:10]  ²⁰ tn Grk “I fell down at his feet.” BDAG 815 s.v. πίπτω 1.b.α.ב. has “fall down, throw oneself to the ground as a sign of devotion or humility, before high-ranking persons or divine beings.”

[19:10]  ²¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[19:10]  ²² tn On the elliptical expression ὅρα μή (Jora mh) BDAG 720 s.v. ὁράω B.2 states: “Elliptically…ὅρα μή (sc. ποιήσῃς) watch out! don’t do that! Rv 19:10; 22:9.”

[19:10]  ²³ tn The lowliness of a slave is emphasized in the Greek text with the emphatic position of σύνδουλος (sundoulo"). The use of “only” helps to bring this nuance out in English.

[19:10]  ²⁴ tn Grk “fellow slave.” See the note on the word “servants” in v. 2.

[19:10]  ²⁵ tn The Greek term “brother” literally refers to family relationships, but here it is used in a broader sense to connote familial relationships within the family of God (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 2.a).

[19:10]  ²⁶ tn The genitive ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou) has been translated as an objective genitive here. A subjective genitive, also possible, would produce the meaning “who hold to what Jesus testifies.”

[22:9]  ²⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present here.

[22:9]  ²⁸ tn On the elliptical expression ὅρα μή ({ora mh) BDAG 720 s.v. ὁράω B.2 states: “Elliptically…ὅρα μή (sc. ποιήσῃς) watch out! don’t do that! Rv 19:10; 22:9.”

[22:9]  ²⁹ tn Grk “fellow slave.” Though σύνδουλος (sundoulos) is here translated “fellow servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

[22:9]  ³⁰ tn Grk “keep” (an idiom for obedience).