Acts 2:47

2:47 praising God and having the good will ¹  of all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number every day ²  those who were being saved.

Acts 4:4

4:4 But many of those who had listened to ³  the message ⁴  believed, and the number of the men ⁵  came to about five thousand.

Acts 5:14

5:14 More and more believers in the Lord were added to their number, ⁶  crowds of both men and women.

Acts 6:7

6:7 The word of God continued to spread, ⁷  the number of disciples in Jerusalem ⁸  increased greatly, and a large group ⁹  of priests became obedient to the faith.

Acts 9:31

9:31 Then ¹⁰  the church throughout Judea, Galilee, ¹¹  and Samaria experienced ¹²  peace and thus was strengthened. ¹³  Living ¹⁴  in the fear of the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, the church ¹⁵  increased in numbers.

Acts 11:21

11:21 The ¹⁶  hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed ¹⁷  turned ¹⁸  to the Lord.

Acts 12:24

12:24 But the word of God ¹⁹  kept on increasing ²⁰  and multiplying.

Acts 13:48-49

13:48 When the Gentiles heard this, they began to rejoice ²¹  and praise ²²  the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed for eternal life ²³  believed. 13:49 So the word of the Lord was spreading ²⁴  through the entire region.

Acts 19:18-21

19:18 Many of those who had believed came forward, ²⁵  confessing and making their deeds known. ²⁶  19:19 Large numbers ²⁷  of those who had practiced magic ²⁸  collected their books ²⁹  and burned them up in the presence of everyone. ³⁰  When ³¹  the value of the books was added up, it was found to total fifty thousand silver coins. ³²  19:20 In this way the word of the Lord ³³  continued to grow in power ³⁴  and to prevail. ³⁵ 

A Riot in Ephesus

19:21 Now after all these things had taken place, ³⁶  Paul resolved ³⁷  to go to Jerusalem, ³⁸  passing through Macedonia ³⁹  and Achaia. ⁴⁰  He said, ⁴¹  “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.” ⁴² 

[2:47]  ¹ tn Or “the favor.”

[2:47]  ² tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase.

[4:4]  ³ tn Or “had heard.”

[4:4]  ⁴ tn Or “word.”

[4:4]  ⁵ tn In the historical setting it is likely that only men are referred to here. The Greek term ἀνήρ (anhr) usually refers to males or husbands rather than people in general. Thus to translate “of the people” would give a false impression of the number, since any women and children were apparently not included in the count.

[5:14]  ⁶ tn Or “More and more believers were added to the Lord.”

[6:7]  ⁷ tn Grk “kept on spreading”; the verb has been translated as a progressive imperfect.

[6:7]  ⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:7]  ⁹ tn Grk “a great multitude.”

[9:31]  ¹⁰ tn Or “Therefore.” This verse is another summary text in Acts (cf. 2:41-47; 4:32-37; 5:12-16; 6:7).

[9:31]  ¹¹ tn Grk “and Galilee,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[9:31]  ¹² tn Grk “had.”

[9:31]  ¹³ tn Or “Built up.” The participle οἰκοδομουμένη (oikodomoumenh) has been translated as a participle of result related to εἶχεν (eicen). It could also be understood as adverbial to ἐπληθύνετο (eplhquneto): “Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria experienced peace. Strengthened and living in the fear of the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.” Although some scholars do not regard the participle of result as a legitimate category, it is actually fairly common (see ExSyn 637-39).

[9:31]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “And living.” 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.

[9:31]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “it”; the referent (the church) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:21]  ¹⁶ 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.

[11:21]  ¹⁷ tn The participle πιστεύσας (pisteusa") is articular and thus cannot be adverbial. It is adjectival, modifying ἀριθμός (ariqmo"), but has been translated into English as a relative clause (“who believed”).

[11:21]  ¹⁸ sn Again, the expression turned is a summary term for responding to the gospel.

[12:24]  ¹⁹ sn A metonymy for the number of adherents to God’s word.

[12:24]  ²⁰ tn Or “spreading.”

[13:48]  ²¹ tn The imperfect verb ἔχαιρον (ecairon) and the following ἐδόξαζον (edoxazon) are translated as ingressive imperfects.

[13:48]  ²² tn Or “glorify.” Although “honor” is given by BDAG 258 s.v. δοξάζω as a translation, it would be misleading here, because the meaning is “to honor in the sense of attributing worth to something,” while in contemporary English usage one speaks of “honoring” a contract in the sense of keeping its stipulations. It is not a synonym for “obey” in this context (“obey the word of the Lord”), but that is how many English readers would understand it.

[13:48]  ²³ sn Note the contrast to v. 46 in regard to eternal life.

[13:49]  ²⁴ tn BDAG 239 s.v. διαφέρω 1 has “spread” for διαφέρετο (diafereto) in connection with a teaching. This is the first summary since Acts 9:31.

[19:18]  ²⁵ tn Grk “came”; the word “forward” is supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning and to conform to the contemporary English idiom.

[19:18]  ²⁶ tn Or “confessing and disclosing their deeds.” BDAG 59 s.v. ἀναγγέλλω 2 has “W. ἐξομολογεῖσθαι: ἀ. τὰς πράξεις αὐτο'ν make their deeds known Ac 19:18.”

[19:19]  ²⁷ tn BDAG 472 s.v. ἱκανός 4.a has “many, quite a few” for ἱκανοί (Jikanoi) in this verse.

[19:19]  ²⁸ tn On this term see BDAG 800 s.v. περίεργος 2.

[19:19]  ²⁹ tn Or “scrolls.”

[19:19]  ³⁰ tn Or “burned them up publicly.” L&N 14.66 has “‘they brought their books together and burned them up in the presence of everyone’ Ac 19:19.”

[19:19]  ³¹ tn Grk “and when.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.

[19:19]  ³² tn Or “fifty thousand silver drachmas” (about $10,000 US dollars). BDAG 128 s.v. ἀργύριον 2.c states, “ἀργυρίου μυριάδας πέντε 50,000 (Attic silver) drachmas Ac 19:19.” Another way to express the value would be in sheep: One drachma could buy one sheep. So this many drachmas could purchase a huge flock of sheep. A drachma also equals a denarius, or a day’s wage for the average worker. So this amount would be equal to 50,000 work days or in excess of 8,300 weeks of labor (the weeks are calculated at six working days because of the Jewish cultural context). The impact of Christianity on the Ephesian economy was considerable (note in regard to this the concerns expressed in 19:26-27).

[19:20]  ³³ sn The word of the Lord is a technical expression in OT literature, often referring to a divine prophetic utterance (e.g., Gen 15:1, Isa 1:10, Jonah 1:1). In the NT it occurs 15 times: 3 times as ῥῆμα τοῦ κυρίου (rJhma tou kuriou; Luke 22:61, Acts 11:16, 1 Pet 1:25) and 12 times as λόγος τοῦ κυρίου (logo" tou kuriou; here and in Acts 8:25; 13:44, 48, 49; 15:35, 36; 16:32; 19:10; 1 Thess 1:8, 4:15; 2 Thess 3:1). As in the OT, this phrase focuses on the prophetic nature and divine origin of what has been said.

[19:20]  ³⁴ tn The imperfect verb ηὔξανεν (huxanen) has been translated as a progressive imperfect, as has the following verb ἴσχυεν (iscuen).

[19:20]  ³⁵ sn The word of the Lord…to prevail. Luke portrays the impact of Christianity in terms of the Lord’s transforming power in the lives of individuals.

[19:21]  ³⁶ tn Grk “all these things had been fulfilled.”

[19:21]  ³⁷ tn Grk “Paul purposed in [his] spirit” (an idiom). According to BDAG 1003 s.v. τίθημι 1.b.ε the entire idiom means “to resolve” (or “decide”): “ἔθετο ὁ Παῦλος ἐν τῷ πνεύματι w. inf. foll. Paul resolved 19:21.”

[19:21]  ³⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[19:21]  ³⁹ sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.

[19:21]  ⁴⁰ sn Achaia was the Roman province of Achaia located across the Aegean Sea from Ephesus. Its principal city was Corinth.

[19:21]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “Achaia, saying.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the awkwardness in English of having two participial clauses following one another (“passing through…saying”), the participle εἰπών (eipwn) has been translated as a finite verb and a new sentence begun here in the translation.

[19:21]  ⁴² sn This is the first time Paul mentions Rome. He realized the message of Christianity could impact that society even at its heights.