Acts 15:14-15

15:14 Simeon ¹  has explained ²  how God first concerned himself ³  to select ⁴  from among the Gentiles ⁵  a people for his name. 15:15 The ⁶  words of the prophets agree ⁷  with this, as it is written,

[15:14]  ¹ sn Simeon is a form of the apostle Peter’s Aramaic name. James uses Peter’s “Jewish” name here.

[15:14]  ² tn Or “reported,” “described.”

[15:14]  ³ tn BDAG 378 s.v. ἐπισκέπτομαι 3 translates this phrase in Acts 15:14, “God concerned himself about winning a people fr. among the nations.”

[15:14]  ⁴ tn Grk “to take,” but in the sense of selecting or choosing (accompanied by the preposition ἐκ [ek] plus a genitive specifying the group selected from) see Heb 5:1; also BDAG 584 s.v. λαμβάνω 6.

[15:14]  ⁵ sn In the Greek text the expression “from among the Gentiles” is in emphatic position.

[15:15]  ⁶ tn Grk “And the.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[15:15]  ⁷ sn The term agree means “match” or “harmonize with.” James’ point in the introduction argues that many of the OT prophets taught this. He gives one example (which follows).