Acts 22:23-24

22:23 While they were screaming ¹  and throwing off their cloaks ²  and tossing dust ³  in the air, 22:24 the commanding officer ⁴  ordered Paul ⁵  to be brought back into the barracks. ⁶  He told them ⁷  to interrogate Paul ⁸  by beating him with a lash ⁹  so that he could find out the reason the crowd ¹⁰  was shouting at Paul ¹¹  in this way.

[22:23]  ¹ tn The participle κραυγαζόντων (kraugazontwn) has been translated temporally.

[22:23]  ² tn Or “outer garments.”

[22:23]  ³ 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]  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.

[22:24]  ⁵ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:24]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:24]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “they”; the referent (the crowd) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:24]  ¹¹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.