Acts 21:37

21:37 As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, ¹  he said ²  to the commanding officer, ³  “May I say ⁴  something to you?” The officer ⁵  replied, ⁶  “Do you know Greek? ⁷ 

Acts 21:1

Paul’s Journey to Jerusalem

21:1 After ⁸  we ⁹  tore ourselves away ¹⁰  from them, we put out to sea, ¹¹  and sailing a straight course, ¹²  we came to Cos, ¹³  on the next day to Rhodes, ¹⁴  and from there to Patara. ¹⁵ 

Acts 3:15

3:15 You killed ¹⁶  the Originator ¹⁷  of life, whom God raised ¹⁸  from the dead. To this fact we are witnesses! ¹⁹ 

Acts 4:15-16

4:15 But when they had ordered them to go outside the council, ²⁰  they began to confer with one another, 4:16 saying, “What should we do with these men? For it is plain ²¹  to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable miraculous sign ²²  has come about through them, ²³  and we cannot deny it.

[21:37]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Grk “says” (a historical present).

[21:37]  ³ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers) See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 31.

[21:37]  ⁴ tn Grk “Is it permitted for me to say” (an idiom).

[21:37]  ⁵ tn Grk “He”; the referent (the officer) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:37]  ⁶ tn Grk “said.”

[21:37]  ⁷ 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.

[21:1]  ⁸ tn Grk “It happened that when.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. Since the action described by the participle ἀποσπασθέντας (apospasqenta", “tearing ourselves away”) is prior to the departure of the ship, it has been translated as antecedent action (“after”).

[21:1]  ⁹ sn This marks the beginning of another “we” section in Acts. These have been traditionally understood to mean that Luke was in the company of Paul for this part of the journey.

[21:1]  ¹⁰ tn BDAG 120 s.v. ἀποσπάω 2.b has “pass. in mid. sense ἀ. ἀπό τινος tear oneself away Ac 21:1”; LSJ 218 gives several illustrations of this verb meaning “to tear or drag away from.”

[21:1]  ¹¹ tn BDAG 62 s.v. ἀνάγω 4, “as a nautical t.t. (ἀ. τὴν ναῦν put a ship to sea), mid. or pass. ἀνάγεσθαι to begin to go by boat, put out to sea.”

[21:1]  ¹² tn BDAG 406 s.v. εὐθυδρομέω has “of a ship run a straight course”; L&N 54.3 has “to sail a straight course, sail straight to.”

[21:1]  ¹³ sn Cos was an island in the Aegean Sea.

[21:1]  ¹⁴ sn Rhodes was an island off the southwestern coast of Asia Minor.

[21:1]  ¹⁵ sn Patara was a city in Lycia on the southwestern coast of Asia Minor. The entire journey was about 185 mi (295 km).

[3:15]  ¹⁶ tn Or “You put to death.”

[3:15]  ¹⁷ tn Or “Founder,” “founding Leader.”

[3:15]  ¹⁸ sn Whom God raised. God is the main actor here, as he testifies to Jesus and vindicates him.

[3:15]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.” The two consecutive relative clauses make for awkward English style, so the second was begun as a new sentence with the words “to this fact” supplied in place of the Greek relative pronoun to make a complete sentence in English.

[4:15]  ²⁰ tn Or “the Sanhedrin” (the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews).

[4:16]  ²¹ tn Or “evident.”

[4:16]  ²² tn Here σημεῖον (shmeion) has been translated as “miraculous sign” rather than simply “sign” or “miracle” since both components appear to be present in the context. It is clear that the healing of the lame man was a miracle, but for the Sanhedrin it was the value of the miraculous healing as a sign that concerned them because it gave attestation to the message of Peter and John. The sign “speaks” as Peter claimed in 3:11-16.

[4:16]  ²³ tn Or “has been done by them.”