Acts 21:31-33

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. 21:33 Then the commanding officer ¹⁴  came up and arrested ¹⁵  him and ordered him to be tied up with two chains; ¹⁶  he ¹⁷  then asked who he was and what ¹⁸  he had done.

Acts 21:37

21:37 As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, ¹⁹  he said ²⁰  to the commanding officer, ²¹  “May I say ²²  something to you?” The officer ²³  replied, ²⁴  “Do you know Greek? ²⁵ 

Acts 22:26

22:26 When the centurion ²⁶  heard this, ²⁷  he went to the commanding officer ²⁸  and reported it, ²⁹  saying, “What are you about to do? ³⁰  For this man is a Roman citizen.” ³¹ 

Acts 23:17

23:17 Paul called ³²  one of the centurions ³³  and said, “Take this young man to the commanding officer, ³⁴  for he has something to report to him.”

Acts 23:19

23:19 The commanding officer ³⁵  took him by the hand, withdrew privately, and asked, “What is it that you want ³⁶  to report to me?”

Acts 24:22

24:22 Then Felix, ³⁷  who understood the facts ³⁸  concerning the Way ³⁹  more accurately, ⁴⁰  adjourned their hearing, ⁴¹  saying, “When Lysias the commanding officer comes down, I will decide your case.” ⁴² 

[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.

[21:33]  ¹³ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 31.

[21:33]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “seized.”

[21:33]  ¹⁵ tn The two chains would be something like handcuffs (BDAG 48 s.v. ἅλυσις and compare Acts 28:20).

[21:33]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “and he.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was begun in the translation, and καί (kai) has been replaced with a semicolon. “Then” has been supplied after “he” to clarify the logical sequence.

[21:33]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “and what it is”; this has been simplified to “what.”

[21:37]  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.”

[21:37]  ²⁰ tn Grk “says” (a historical present).

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

[21:37]  ²² tn Grk “Is it permitted for me to say” (an idiom).

[21:37]  ²³ tn Grk “He”; the referent (the officer) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:37]  ²⁴ tn Grk “said.”

[21:37]  ²⁵ 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.

[22:26]  ²⁵ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[22:26]  ²⁶ tn The word “this” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[22:26]  ²⁷ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 24.

[22:26]  ²⁸ tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[22:26]  ²⁹ tn Or perhaps, “What do you intend to do?” Although BDAG 627 s.v. μέλλω 1.c.α lists this phrase under the category “be about to, be on the point of,” it is possible it belongs under 1.c.γ, “denoting an intended action: intend, propose, have in mind…τί μέλλεις ποιεῖν; what do you intend to do?”

[22:26]  ³⁰ tn The word “citizen” is supplied here for emphasis and clarity.

[23:17]  ³¹ tn Grk “calling…Paul said.” The participle προσκαλεσάμενος (proskalesameno") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[23:17]  ³² sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[23:17]  ³³ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 10.

[23:19]  ³⁷ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 10.

[23:19]  ³⁸ tn Grk “you have,” but the expression “have to report” in English could be understood to mean “must report” rather than “possess to report.” For this reason the nearly equivalent expression “want to report,” which is not subject to misunderstanding, was used in the translation.

[24:22]  ⁴³ sn See the note on Antonius Felix in 23:24.

[24:22]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “the things.”

[24:22]  ⁴⁵ tn That is, concerning Christianity.

[24:22]  ⁴⁶ tn BDAG 39 s.v. ἀκριβῶς has “Comp. ἀκριβέστερον more exactly…ἀ. ἐκτίθεσθαι explain more exactly Ac 18:26, cp. 23:15, 20; also more accurately…24:22.” Felix knew more about the Christian movement than what the Jewish leaders had told him.

[24:22]  ⁴⁷ tn L&N 56.18 s.v. ἀναβάλλω has “to adjourn a court proceeding until a later time – ‘to adjourn a hearing, to stop a hearing and put it off until later.’…‘then Felix, who was well informed about the Way, adjourned their hearing’ Ac 24:22.”

[24:22]  ⁴⁸ tn BDAG 227 s.v. διαγινώσκω 2 states, “to make a judicial decision, decide/hear (a case)…τὰ καθ᾿ ὑμᾶς decide your case Ac 24:22.”