Acts 2:21

2:21 And then ¹  everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ ² 

Acts 3:23

3:23 Every person ³  who does not obey that prophet will be destroyed and thus removed ⁴  from the people.’ ⁵ 

Acts 26:5

26:5 They know, ⁶  because they have known ⁷  me from time past, ⁸  if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party ⁹  of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee. ¹⁰ 

Acts 7:7

7:7 But I will punish ¹¹  the nation they serve as slaves,’ said God, ‘and after these things they will come out of there ¹²  and worship ¹³  me in this place.’ ¹⁴ 

Acts 8:19

8:19 saying, “Give me this power ¹⁵  too, so that everyone I place my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.”

Acts 8:31

8:31 The man ¹⁶  replied, “How in the world can I, ¹⁷  unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

Acts 15:1

The Jerusalem Council

15:1 Now some men came down from Judea ¹⁸  and began to teach the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised ¹⁹  according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

Acts 27:31

27:31 Paul said to the centurion ²⁰  and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you ²¹  cannot be saved.”

Acts 5:38

5:38 So in this case I say to you, stay away from these men and leave them alone, because if this plan or this undertaking originates with people, ²²  it will come to nothing, ²³ 

Acts 9:2

9:2 and requested letters from him to the synagogues ²⁴  in Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, ²⁵  either men or women, he could bring them as prisoners ²⁶  to Jerusalem. ²⁷ 

Acts 13:41

13:41 ‘Look, you scoffers; be amazed and perish! ²⁸ 

For I am doing a work in your days,

a work you would never believe, even if someone tells you.’” ²⁹ 

[2:21]  ¹ tn Grk “And it will be that.”

[2:21]  ² sn A quotation from Joel 2:28-32.

[3:23]  ³ tn Grk “every soul” (here “soul” is an idiom for the whole person).

[3:23]  ⁴ tn Or “will be completely destroyed.” In Acts 3:23 the verb ἐξολεθρεύω (exoleqreuw) is translated “destroy and remove” by L&N 20.35.

[3:23]  ⁵ sn A quotation from Deut 18:19, also Lev 23:29. The OT context of Lev 23:29 discusses what happened when one failed to honor atonement. One ignored the required sacrifice of God at one’s peril.

[26:5]  ⁵ tn These words are repeated from v. 4 (“all the Jews know”). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, it was necessary to begin a new sentence at the beginning of v. 5 in the translation, but for this to make sense, the main verb ἵσασι ({isasi) has to be repeated to connect with the ὅτι (Joti) clause (indirect discourse) in v. 5.

[26:5]  ⁶ tn Grk “having known me from time past.” The participle προγινώσκοντες (proginwskonte") has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.

[26:5]  ⁷ tn BDAG 866 s.v. προγινώσκω 2 has “Know from time past…προγινώσκοντές με ἄνωθεν Ac 26:5.” L&N 28.6 states, “‘they have already known me beforehand, if they are willing to testify’ Ac 26:5.”

[26:5]  ⁸ tn That is, strictest religious party. “Party” alone is used in the translation because “the strictest religious party of our religion” would be redundant.

[26:5]  ⁹ sn See the note on Pharisee in 5:34.

[7:7]  ⁷ tn BDAG 568 s.v. κρίνω 5.b.α states, “Oft. the emphasis is unmistakably laid upon that which follows the Divine Judge’s verdict, upon the condemnation or punishment: condemn, punish …Ac 7:7 (Gen 15:14).”

[7:7]  ⁸ tn The words “of there” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[7:7]  ⁹ tn Or “and serve,” but with religious/cultic overtones (BDAG 587 s.v. λατρεύω).

[7:7]  ¹⁰ sn An allusion to Exod 3:12.

[8:19]  ⁹ tn Or “ability”; Grk “authority.”

[8:31]  ¹¹ tn Grk “He”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:31]  ¹² tn Grk “How am I able, unless…” The translation is based on the force of the conjunction γάρ (gar) in this context. The translation “How in the world can I?” is given in BDAG 189 s.v. γάρ 1.f.

[15:1]  ¹³ sn That is, they came down from Judea to Antioch in Syria.

[15:1]  ¹⁴ tc Codex Bezae (D) and a few other witnesses have “and walk” here (i.e., instead of τῷ ἔθει τῷ Μωϋσέως [tw eqei tw Mwu>sew"] they read καὶ τῷ ἔθει τῷ Μωϋσέως περιπατῆτε [kai tw eqei tw Mwu>sew" peripathte]). This is a decidedly stronger focus on obedience to the Law. As well, D expands vv. 1-5 in various places with the overall effect of being “more sympathetic to the local tradition of the church at Jerusalem” while the Alexandrian witnesses are more sympathetic to Paul (TCGNT 377). Codex D is well known for having a significantly longer text in Acts, but modern scholarship is generally of the opinion that the text of D expands on the original wording of Acts, with a theological viewpoint that especially puts Peter in a more authoritarian light. The expansion in these five verses is in keeping with that motif even though Peter is not explicitly in view.

[27:31]  ¹⁵ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[27:31]  ¹⁶ sn The pronoun you is plural in Greek.

[5:38]  ¹⁷ tn Here ἀνθρώπων (anqrwpwn) has been translated as a generic noun (“people”).

[5:38]  ¹⁸ tn Or “it will be put to an end.”

[9:2]  ¹⁹ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[9:2]  ²⁰ sn The expression “the way” in ancient religious literature refers at times to “the whole way of life fr. a moral and spiritual viewpoint” (BDAG 692 s.v. ὁδός 3.c), and it has been so used of Christianity and its teachings in the book of Acts (see also 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22). It is a variation of Judaism’s idea of two ways, the true and the false, where “the Way” is the true one (1 En. 91:18; 2 En. 30:15).

[9:2]  ²¹ tn Grk “bring them bound”; the translation “bring someone as prisoner” for δεδεμένον ἄγειν τινά (dedemenon agein tina) is given by BDAG 221 s.v. δέω 1.b.

[9:2]  ²² sn From Damascus to Jerusalem was a six-day journey. Christianity had now expanded into Syria.

[13:41]  ²¹ tn Or “and die!”

[13:41]  ²² sn A quotation from Hab 1:5. The irony in the phrase even if someone tells you, of course, is that Paul has now told them. So the call in the warning is to believe or else face the peril of being scoffers whom God will judge. The parallel from Habakkuk is that the nation failed to see how Babylon’s rising to power meant perilous judgment for Israel.