Acts 20:23-24

20:23 except ¹  that the Holy Spirit warns ²  me in town after town ³  that ⁴  imprisonment ⁵  and persecutions ⁶  are waiting for me. 20:24 But I do not consider my life ⁷  worth anything ⁸  to myself, so that ⁹  I may finish my task ¹⁰  and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news ¹¹  of God’s grace.

[20:23]  ¹ tn BDAG 826 s.v. πλήν 1.d has “πλὴν ὅτι except that…Ac 20:23.”

[20:23]  ² tn The verb διαμαρτύρομαι (diamarturomai) can mean “warn” (BDAG 233 s.v. διαμαρτύρομαι 2 has “solemnly urge, exhort, warn…w. dat. of pers. addressed”), and this meaning better fits the context here, although BDAG categorizes Acts 20:23 under the meaning “testify of, bear witness to” (s.v. 1).

[20:23]  ³ tn The Greek text here reads κατὰ πόλιν (kata polin).

[20:23]  ⁴ tn Grk “saying that,” but the participle λέγον (legon) is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[20:23]  ⁵ tn Grk “bonds.”

[20:23]  ⁶ tn Or “troubles,” “suffering.” See Acts 19:21; 21:4, 11.

[20:24]  ⁷ tn Grk “soul.”

[20:24]  ⁸ tn Or “I do not consider my life worth a single word.” According to BDAG 599 s.v. λόγος 1.a.α, “In the textually uncertain pass. Ac 20:24 the text as it stands in N., οὐδενὸς λόγου (v.l. λόγον) ποιοῦμαι τὴν ψυχὴν τιμίαν, may well mean: I do not consider my life worth a single word (cp. λόγου ἄξιον [ἄξιος 1a] and our ‘worth mention’).”

[20:24]  ⁹ tn BDAG 1106 s.v. ὡς 9 describes this use as “a final particle, expressing intention/purpose, with a view to, in order to.”

[20:24]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “course.” See L&N 42.26, “(a figurative extension of meaning of δρόμος ‘race’) a task or function involving continuity, serious, effort, and possibly obligation – ‘task, mission’…Ac 20:24.” On this Pauline theme see also Phil 1:19-26; Col 1:24; 2 Tim 4:6-7.

[20:24]  ¹¹ tn Or “to the gospel.”