Acts 19:24

19:24 For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines ¹  of Artemis, ²  brought a great deal ³  of business ⁴  to the craftsmen.

Acts 22:2

22:2 (When they heard ⁵  that he was addressing ⁶  them in Aramaic, ⁷  they became even ⁸  quieter.) ⁹  Then ¹⁰  Paul said,

Acts 16:16

Paul and Silas Are Thrown Into Prison

16:16 Now ¹¹  as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit that enabled her to foretell the future by supernatural means. ¹²  She ¹³  brought her owners ¹⁴  a great profit by fortune-telling. ¹⁵ 

Acts 17:31

17:31 because he has set ¹⁶  a day on which he is going to judge the world ¹⁷  in righteousness, by a man whom he designated, ¹⁸  having provided proof to everyone by raising ¹⁹  him from the dead.”

Acts 28:2

28:2 The local inhabitants ²⁰  showed us extraordinary ²¹  kindness, for they built a fire and welcomed us all because it had started to rain ²²  and was cold.

[19:24]  ¹ tn BDAG 665 s.v. ναός 1.a states, “Specif. of temples: of replicas of the temple of Artemis at Ephesus 19:24…but here, near ἱερόν vs. 27…ναός can be understood in the more restricted sense shrine, where the image of the goddess stood.”

[19:24]  ² sn Artemis was the name of a Greek goddess worshiped particularly in Asia Minor, whose temple, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was located just outside the city of Ephesus.

[19:24]  ³ tn Grk “brought not a little business” (an idiom).

[19:24]  ⁴ sn A great deal of business. The charge that Christianity brought economic and/or social upheaval was made a number of times in Acts: 16:20-21; 17:6-7; 18:13.

[22:2]  ⁵ tn ἀκούσαντες (akousante") has been taken temporally.

[22:2]  ⁶ tn Or “spoke out to.” L&N 33.27 has “to address an audience, with possible emphasis upon loudness – ‘to address, to speak out to.’ πολλῆς δέ σιγῆς γενομένης προσεφώνησεν τῇ ᾿Εβραίδι διαλέκτῳ ‘when they were quiet, he addressed them in Hebrew’ Ac 21:40.”

[22:2]  ⁷ tn Grk “in the Hebrew language.” See the note on “Aramaic” in 21:40.

[22:2]  ⁸ tn BDAG 613-14 s.v. μᾶλλον 1 “Abs. μ. can mean to a greater degree (than before), even more, now more than ever Lk 5:15; Jn 5:18; 19:8; Ac 5:14; 22:2; 2 Cor 7:7.”

[22:2]  ⁹ tn BDAG 440 s.v. ἡσυχία 2 has “παρέχειν ἡσυχίαν quiet down, give a hearing…Ac 22:2.”

[22:2]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “and.” Since this represents a continuation of the speech begun in v. 1, καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the logical sequence.

[16:16]  ⁹ tn Grk “Now it happened that.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[16:16]  ¹⁰ tn Or “who had a spirit of divination”; Grk “who had a spirit of Python.” According to BDAG 896-97 s.v. πύθων, originally Πύθων (Puqwn) was the name of the serpent or dragon that guarded the Delphic oracle. According to Greek mythology, it lived at the foot of Mount Parnassus and was killed by Apollo. From this, the word came to designate a person who was thought to have a spirit of divination. Pagan generals, for example, might consult someone like this. So her presence here suggests a supernatural encounter involving Paul and her “spirit.” W. Foerster, TDNT 6:920, connects the term with ventriloquism but states: “We must assume, however, that for this girl, as for those mentioned by Origen…, the art of ventriloquism was inseparably connected with a (supposed or authentic) gift of soothsaying.” It should also be noted that if the girl in question here were only a ventriloquist, the exorcism performed by Paul in v. 18 would not have been effective.

[16:16]  ¹¹ tn Grk “who.” Because of the awkwardness in English of having two relative clauses follow one another (“who had a spirit…who brought her owners a great profit”) the relative pronoun here (“who”) has been translated as a pronoun (“she”) and a new sentence begun in the translation.

[16:16]  ¹² tn Or “masters.”

[16:16]  ¹³ tn On this term see BDAG 616 s.v. μαντεύομαι. It was used of those who gave oracles.

[17:31]  ¹³ tn Or “fixed.”

[17:31]  ¹⁴ sn The world refers to the whole inhabited earth.

[17:31]  ¹⁵ tn Or “appointed.” BDAG 723 s.v. ὁρίζω 2.b has “of persons appoint, designate, declare: God judges the world ἐν ἀνδρὶ ᾧ ὥρισεν through a man whom he has appointed Ac 17:31.”

[17:31]  ¹⁶ tn The participle ἀναστήσας (anasthsa") indicates means here.

[28:2]  ¹⁷ 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…).”

[28:2]  ¹⁸ tn BDAG 1019 s.v. τυγχάνω 2.d states, “δυνάμεις οὐ τὰς τυχούσας extraordinary miracles Ac 19:11. Cp. 28:2.”

[28:2]  ¹⁹ tn Or “because it was about to rain.” BDAG 418 s.v. ἐφίστημι 4 states, “διὰ τ. ὑετὸν τὸν ἐφεστῶτα because it had begun to rain Ac 28:2…But the mng. here could also be because it threatened to rain (s. 6).”