Acts 21:35

21:35 When he came to the steps, Paul ¹  had to be carried ²  by the soldiers because of the violence ³  of the mob,

Acts 27:42

27:42 Now the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners ⁴  so that none of them would escape by swimming away. ⁵ 

Acts 12:4

12:4 When he had seized him, he put him in prison, handing him over to four squads ⁶  of soldiers to guard him. Herod ⁷  planned ⁸  to bring him out for public trial ⁹  after the Passover.

Acts 12:6

12:6 On that very night before Herod was going to bring him out for trial, ¹⁰  Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, while ¹¹  guards in front of the door were keeping watch ¹²  over the prison.

[21:35]  ¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:35]  ² sn Paul had to be carried. Note how the arrest really ended up protecting Paul. The crowd is portrayed as irrational at this point.

[21:35]  ³ tn This refers to mob violence (BDAG 175 s.v. βία b).

[27:42]  ⁴ sn The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners. The issue here was not cruelty, but that the soldiers would be legally responsible if any prisoners escaped and would suffer punishment themselves. So they were planning to do this as an act of self-preservation. See Acts 16:27 for a similar incident.

[27:42]  ⁵ tn The participle ἐκκολυμβήσας (ekkolumbhsa") has been taken instrumentally.

[12:4]  ⁷ sn Four squads of soldiers. Each squad was a detachment of four soldiers.

[12:4]  ⁸ tn Grk “guard him, planning to bring him out.” The Greek construction continues with a participle (βουλόμενος, boulomeno") and an infinitive (ἀναγαγεῖν, anagagein), but this creates an awkward and lengthy sentence in English. Thus a reference to Herod was introduced as subject and the participle translated as a finite verb (“Herod planned”).

[12:4]  ⁹ tn Or “intended”; Grk “wanted.”

[12:4]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “to bring him out to the people,” but in this context a public trial (with certain condemnation as the result) is doubtless what Herod planned. L&N 15.176 translates this phrase “planning to bring him up for a public trial after the Passover.”

[12:6]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “was going to bring him out,” but the upcoming trial is implied. See Acts 12:4.

[12:6]  ¹¹ tn Grk “two chains, and.” Logically it makes better sense to translate this as a temporal clause, although technically it is a coordinate clause in Greek.

[12:6]  ¹² tn Or “were guarding.”