Acts 19:34

19:34 But when they recognized ¹  that he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison, ²  “Great is Artemis ³  of the Ephesians!” for about two hours. ⁴ 

Acts 10:30

10:30 Cornelius ⁵  replied, ⁶  “Four days ago at this very hour, at three o’clock in the afternoon, ⁷  I was praying in my house, and suddenly ⁸  a man in shining clothing stood before me

Acts 23:23

23:23 Then ⁹  he summoned ¹⁰  two of the centurions ¹¹  and said, “Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea ¹²  along with seventy horsemen ¹³  and two hundred spearmen ¹⁴  by ¹⁵  nine o’clock tonight, ¹⁶ 

[19:34]  ¹ tn Grk “But recognizing.” The participle ἐπιγνόντες (epignonte") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[19:34]  ² tn Grk “[they shouted] with one voice from all of them” (an idiom).

[19:34]  ³ sn Artemis was 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, 1.25 mi (2 km) northeast of the Grand Theater. Dimensions were 418 ft by 239 ft (125 m by 72 m) for the platform; the temple proper was 377 ft by 180 ft (113 m by 54 m). The roof was supported by 117 columns, each 60 ft (18 m) high by 6 ft (1.8 m) in diameter. The Emperor Justinian of Byzantium later took these columns for use in construction of the Hagia Sophia, where they still exist (in modern day Istanbul).

[19:34]  ⁴ sn They all shouted…for about two hours. The extent of the tumult shows the racial and social tensions of a cosmopolitan city like Ephesus, indicating what the Christians in such locations had to face.

[10:30]  ⁵ tn Grk “And Cornelius.” 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.

[10:30]  ⁶ tn Grk “said.”

[10:30]  ⁷ tn Grk “at the ninth hour.” Again, this is the hour of afternoon prayer.

[10:30]  ⁸ tn Grk “and behold.” The interjection ἰδού (idou) is difficult at times to translate into English. Here it has been translated as “suddenly” to convey the force of Cornelius’ account of the angel’s appearance.

[23:23]  ⁹ tn Grk “And.” Since this represents a response to the reported ambush, καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the logical sequence.

[23:23]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “summoning…he said.” The participle προσκαλεσάμενος (proskalesameno") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[23:23]  ¹¹ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[23:23]  ¹² sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi). See the note on Caesarea in Acts 10:1. This was a journey of about 65 mi (just over 100 km).

[23:23]  ¹³ tn Or “cavalrymen.”

[23:23]  ¹⁴ tn A military technical term of uncertain meaning. BDAG 217 s.v. δεξιολάβος states, “a word of uncertain mng., military t.t., acc. to Joannes Lydus…and Theophyl. Sim., Hist. 4, 1 a light-armed soldier, perh. bowman, slinger; acc. to a scholion in CMatthaei p. 342 body-guard….Spearman Goodspd., NRSV; ‘security officer’, GDKilpatrick, JTS 14, ’63, 393f.”

[23:23]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “from.”

[23:23]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “from the third hour of the night.”