Acts 14:16

14:16 In ¹  past ²  generations he allowed all the nations ³  to go their own ways,

Acts 16:7

16:7 When they came to ⁴  Mysia, ⁵  they attempted to go into Bithynia, ⁶  but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow ⁷  them to do this, ⁸ 

Acts 28:4

28:4 When the local people ⁹  saw the creature hanging from Paul’s ¹⁰  hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer! Although he has escaped from the sea, Justice herself ¹¹  has not allowed him to live!” ¹² 

[14:16]  ¹ tn Grk “them, who in.” The relative pronoun (“who”) was replaced by the pronoun “he” (“In past generations he”) and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style, due to the length of the sentence in Greek and the awkwardness of two relative clauses (“who made the heaven” and “who in past generations”) following one another.

[14:16]  ² tn On this term see BDAG 780 s.v. παροίχομαι. The word is a NT hapax legomenon.

[14:16]  ³ tn Or “all the Gentiles” (in Greek the word for “nation” and “Gentile” is the same). The plural here alludes to the variety of false religions in the pagan world.

[16:7]  ⁴ tn BDAG 511 s.v. κατά B.1.b has “to Mysia” here.

[16:7]  ⁵ sn Mysia was a province in northwest Asia Minor.

[16:7]  ⁶ sn Bithynia was a province in northern Asia Minor northeast of Mysia.

[16:7]  ⁷ tn Or “permit”; see BDAG 269 s.v. ἐάω 1.

[16:7]  ⁸ tn The words “do this” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied for stylistic reasons, since English handles ellipses differently than Greek.

[28:4]  ⁷ tn Although this is literally βάρβαροι (barbaroi; “foreigners, barbarians”) used for non-Greek or non-Romans, as BDAG 166 s.v. βάρβαρος 2.b notes, “Of the inhabitants of Malta, who apparently spoke in their native language Ac 28:2, 4 (here β. certainly without derogatory tone…).”

[28:4]  ⁸ tn Grk “his”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:4]  ⁹ tn That is, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live. BDAG 250 s.v. δίκη 2 states, “Justice personified as a deity Ac 28:4”; L&N 12.27, “a goddess who personifies justice in seeking out and punishing the guilty – ‘the goddess Justice.’ ἡ δίκη ζῆν οὐκ εἴασεν ‘the goddess Justice would not let him live’ Ac 28:4.” Although a number of modern English translations have rendered δίκη (dikh) “justice,” preferring to use an abstraction, in the original setting it is almost certainly a reference to a pagan deity. In the translation, the noun “justice” was capitalized and the reflexive pronoun “herself” was supplied to make the personification clear. This was considered preferable to supplying a word like ‘goddess’ in connection with δίκη.

[28:4]  ¹⁰ sn The entire scene is played out initially as a kind of oracle from the gods resulting in the judgment of a guilty person (Justice herself has not allowed him to live). Paul’s survival of this incident without ill effects thus spoke volumes about his innocence.