Acts 16:29-31

16:29 Calling for lights, the jailer ¹  rushed in and fell down ²  trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas. 16:30 Then he brought them outside ³  and asked, “Sirs, what must ⁴  I do to be saved?” 16:31 They replied, ⁵  “Believe ⁶  in the Lord Jesus ⁷  and you will be saved, you and your household.”

[16:29]  ¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the jailer) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:29]  ² tn Or “and prostrated himself.”

[16:30]  ³ tn Grk “And bringing them outside, he asked.” The participle προαγαγών (proagagwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun by supplying the conjunction “then” to indicate the logical sequence.

[16:30]  ⁴ tn The Greek term (δεῖ, dei) is used by Luke to represent divine necessity.

[16:31]  ⁵ tn Grk “said.”

[16:31]  ⁶ sn Here the summary term of response is a call to believe. In this context it refers to trusting the sovereign God’s power to deliver, which events had just pictured for the jailer.

[16:31]  ⁷ tc The majority of mss add Χριστόν (Criston, “Christ”) here (C D E Ψ 1739 Ï sy sa), but the best and earliest witnesses read simply τὸν κύριον ᾿Ιησοῦν (ton kurion Ihsoun, “the Lord Jesus”; Ì^74vid א A B 33 81 pc bo). The addition of “Christ” to “Lord Jesus” is an obviously motivated reading. Thus on both external and internal grounds, the shorter reading is strongly preferred.