Acts 22:19-24

22:19 I replied, ¹  ‘Lord, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat those in the various synagogues ²  who believed in you. 22:20 And when the blood of your witness ³  Stephen was shed, ⁴  I myself was standing nearby, approving, ⁵  and guarding the cloaks ⁶  of those who were killing him.’ ⁷  22:21 Then ⁸  he said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”

The Roman Commander Questions Paul

22:22 The crowd ⁹  was listening to him until he said this. ¹⁰  Then ¹¹  they raised their voices and shouted, ¹²  “Away with this man ¹³  from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live!” ¹⁴  22:23 While they were screaming ¹⁵  and throwing off their cloaks ¹⁶  and tossing dust ¹⁷  in the air, 22:24 the commanding officer ¹⁸  ordered Paul ¹⁹  to be brought back into the barracks. ²⁰  He told them ²¹  to interrogate Paul ²²  by beating him with a lash ²³  so that he could find out the reason the crowd ²⁴  was shouting at Paul ²⁵  in this way.

[22:19]  ¹ tn Grk “And I said.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai, in καγώ [kagw]) has not been translated here.

[22:19]  ² tn For the distributive sense of the expression κατὰ τὰς συναγωγάς (kata ta" sunagwga") BDAG 512 s.v. κατά B.1.d has “of places viewed serially, distributive use w. acc.…κατ᾿ οἶκαν from house to house…Ac 2:46b; 5:42…Likew. the pl.…κ. τὰς συναγωγάς 22:19.” See also L&N 37.114.

[22:20]  ³ sn Now Paul referred to Stephen as your witness, and he himself had also become a witness. The reversal was now complete; the opponent had now become a proponent.

[22:20]  ⁴ sn When the blood of your witness Stephen was shed means “when your witness Stephen was murdered.”

[22:20]  ⁵ tn Grk “and approving.” This καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[22:20]  ⁶ tn Or “outer garments.”

[22:20]  ⁷ tn Or “who were putting him to death.” For the translation of ἀναιρούντων (anairountwn) as “putting to death” see BDAG 64 s.v. ἀναιρέω 2.

[22:21]  ⁵ tn Grk “And.” Since this represents a response to Paul’s reply in v. 19, καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the logical sequence.

[22:22]  ⁷ tn Grk “They were listening”; the referent (the crowd) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:22]  ⁸ tn Grk “until this word.”

[22:22]  ⁹ tn Grk “And.” To indicate the logical sequence, καί (kai) has been translated as “then” here.

[22:22]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “and said.”

[22:22]  ¹¹ tn Grk “this one.”

[22:22]  ¹² tn BDAG 491 s.v. καθήκω has “to be appropriate, come/reach to, be proper/fitting…Usu. impers. καθήκει it comes (to someone)…foll. by acc. and inf….οὐ καθῆκεν αὐτὸν ζῆν he should not be allowed to live Ac 22:22.”

[22:23]  ⁹ tn The participle κραυγαζόντων (kraugazontwn) has been translated temporally.

[22:23]  ¹⁰ tn Or “outer garments.”

[22:23]  ¹¹ sn The crowd’s act of tossing dust in the air indicated they had heard something disturbing and offensive. This may have been a symbolic gesture, indicating Paul’s words deserved to be thrown to the wind, or it may have simply resulted from the fact they had nothing else to throw at him at the moment.

[22:24]  ¹¹ 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.

[22:24]  ¹² tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:24]  ¹³ 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.”

[22:24]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “into the barracks, saying.” This is a continuation of the same sentence in Greek using the participle εἴπας (eipas), but due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence a new sentence was begun in the translation here. The direct object “them” has been supplied; it is understood in Greek.

[22:24]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:24]  ¹⁶ sn To interrogate Paul by beating him with a lash. Under the Roman legal system it was customary to use physical torture to extract confessions or other information from prisoners who were not Roman citizens and who were charged with various crimes, especially treason or sedition. The lashing would be done with a whip of leather thongs with pieces of metal or bone attached to the ends.

[22:24]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “they”; the referent (the crowd) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:24]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.