Acts 21:31

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 

Acts 21:37

21:37 As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, ⁷  he said ⁸  to the commanding officer, ⁹  “May I say ¹⁰  something to you?” The officer ¹¹  replied, ¹²  “Do you know Greek? ¹³ 

[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.”

[21:37]  ⁷ 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.”

[21:37]  ⁸ tn Grk “says” (a historical present).

[21:37]  ⁹ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers) See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 31.

[21:37]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “Is it permitted for me to say” (an idiom).

[21:37]  ¹¹ tn Grk “He”; the referent (the officer) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:37]  ¹² tn Grk “said.”

[21:37]  ¹³ sn “Do you know Greek?” Paul as an educated rabbi was bilingual. Paul’s request in Greek allowed the officer to recognize that Paul was not the violent insurrectionist he thought he had arrested (see following verse). The confusion of identities reveals the degree of confusion dominating these events.