Acts 21:31-32

21:31 While they were trying ¹  to kill him, a report ²  was sent up ³  to the commanding officer ⁴  of the cohort ⁵  that all Jerusalem was in confusion. ⁶  21:32 He ⁷  immediately took ⁸  soldiers and centurions ⁹  and ran down to the crowd. ¹⁰  When they saw ¹¹  the commanding officer ¹²  and the soldiers, they stopped beating ¹³  Paul.

Acts 23:10

23:10 When the argument became ¹⁴  so great the commanding officer ¹⁵  feared that they would tear Paul to pieces, ¹⁶  he ordered the detachment ¹⁷  to go down, take him away from them by force, ¹⁸  and bring him into the barracks. ¹⁹ 

Acts 23:27

23:27 This man was seized ²⁰  by the Jews and they were about to kill him, ²¹  when I came up ²²  with the detachment ²³  and rescued him, because I had learned that he was ²⁴  a Roman citizen. ²⁵ 

[21:31]  ¹ tn Grk “seeking.”

[21:31]  ² tn Or “information” (originally concerning a crime; BDAG 1050 s.v. φάσις).

[21:31]  ³ tn Grk “went up”; this verb is used because the report went up to the Antonia Fortress where the Roman garrison was stationed.

[21:31]  ⁴ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). In Greek the term χιλίαρχος (ciliarco") literally described the “commander of a thousand,” but it was used as the standard translation for the Latin tribunus militum or tribunus militare, the military tribune who commanded a cohort of 600 men.

[21:31]  ⁵ sn A cohort was a Roman military unit of about 600 soldiers, one-tenth of a legion.

[21:31]  ⁶ tn BDAG 953 s.v. συγχέω has “Pass. w. act.force be in confusion…ὅλη συγχύννεται ᾿Ιερουσαλήμ 21:31.”

[21:32]  ⁷ tn Grk “who.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences, the relative pronoun (“who”) was translated as a pronoun (“he”) and a new sentence was begun here in the translation.

[21:32]  ⁸ tn Grk “taking…ran down.” The participle κατέδραμεν (katedramen) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[21:32]  ⁹ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[21:32]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “to them”; the referent (the crowd) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:32]  ¹¹ tn Grk “seeing.” The participle ἰδόντες (idonte") has been taken temporally.

[21:32]  ¹² tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 31.

[21:32]  ¹³ sn The mob stopped beating Paul because they feared the Romans would arrest them for disturbing the peace and for mob violence. They would let the Roman officials take care of the matter from this point on.

[23:10]  ¹⁴ tn This genitive absolute construction with the participle γινομένης (ginomenhs) has been taken temporally (it could also be translated as causal).

[23:10]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). In Greek the term χιλίαρχος (ciliarco") literally described the “commander of a thousand,” but it was used as the standard translation for the Latin tribunus militum or tribunus militare, the military tribune who commanded a cohort of 600 men.

[23:10]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “that Paul would be torn to pieces by them.” BDAG 236 s.v. διασπάω has “of an angry mob μὴ διασπασθῇ ὁ Παῦλος ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν that Paul would be torn in pieces by them Ac 23:10.” The passive construction is somewhat awkward in English and has been converted to an equivalent active construction in the translation.

[23:10]  ¹⁷ tn Normally this term means “army,” but according to BDAG 947 s.v. στράτευμα, “Of a smaller detachment of soldiers, sing. Ac 23:10, 27.” In the plural it can be translated “troops,” but it is singular here.

[23:10]  ¹⁸ tn Or “to go down, grab him out of their midst.”

[23:10]  ¹⁹ tn Or “the headquarters.” BDAG 775 s.v. παρεμβολή 2 has “barracks/headquarters of the Roman troops in Jerusalem Ac 21:34, 37; 22:24; 23:10, 16, 32.”

[23:27]  ²⁰ tn The participle συλλημφθέντα (sullhmfqenta) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. The remark reviews events of Acts 21:27-40.

[23:27]  ²¹ tn Grk “and was about to be killed by them.” The passive construction has been converted to an active one in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[23:27]  ²² tn Or “approached.”

[23:27]  ²³ tn Normally this term means “army,” but according to BDAG 947 s.v. στράτευμα, “Of a smaller detachment of soldiers, sing. Ac 23:10, 27.” In the plural it can be translated “troops,” but it is singular here.

[23:27]  ²⁴ tn In Greek this is a present tense retained in indirect discourse.

[23:27]  ²⁵ tn The word “citizen” is supplied here for emphasis and clarity.