Acts 22:3-4

22:3 “I am a Jew, ¹  born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up ²  in this city, educated with strictness ³  under ⁴  Gamaliel ⁵  according to the law of our ancestors, ⁶  and was ⁷  zealous ⁸  for God just as all of you are today. 22:4 I ⁹  persecuted this Way ¹⁰  even to the point of death, ¹¹  tying up ¹²  both men and women and putting ¹³  them in prison,

Acts 22:19-23

22:19 I replied, ¹⁴  ‘Lord, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat those in the various synagogues ¹⁵  who believed in you. 22:20 And when the blood of your witness ¹⁶  Stephen was shed, ¹⁷  I myself was standing nearby, approving, ¹⁸  and guarding the cloaks ¹⁹  of those who were killing him.’ ²⁰  22:21 Then ²¹  he said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”

The Roman Commander Questions Paul

22:22 The crowd ²²  was listening to him until he said this. ²³  Then ²⁴  they raised their voices and shouted, ²⁵  “Away with this man ²⁶  from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live!” ²⁷  22:23 While they were screaming ²⁸  and throwing off their cloaks ²⁹  and tossing dust ³⁰  in the air,

[22:3]  ¹ tn Grk “a Jewish man.”

[22:3]  ² tn BDAG 74 s.v. ἀνατρέφω b has “of mental and spiritual nurture bring up, rear, train…ἀνατεθραμμένος ἐν τ. πόλει ταύτῃ 22:3.”

[22:3]  ³ tn Or “with precision.” Although often translated “strictly” this can be misunderstood for “solely” in English. BDAG 39 s.v. ἀκρίβεια gives the meaning as “exactness, precision.” To avoid the potential misunderstanding the translation “with strictness” is used, although it is slightly more awkward than “strictly.”

[22:3]  ⁴ tn Grk “strictly at the feet of” (an idiom).

[22:3]  ⁵ tn Or “brought up in this city under Gamaliel, educated with strictness…” The phrase παρὰ τοὺς πόδας Γαμαλιὴλ (para tou" poda" Gamalihl) could be understood with what precedes or with what follows. The punctuation of NA²⁷ and UBS⁴, which place a comma after ταύτῃ (tauth), has been followed in the translation.

[22:3]  ⁶ tn Or “our forefathers.”

[22:3]  ⁷ tn Grk “ancestors, being.” The participle ὑπάρχων (Juparcwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[22:3]  ⁸ tn BDAG 427 s.v. ζηλωτής 1.a.α has “of pers. …ζ. τοῦ θεοῦ one who is loyal to God Ac 22:3.”

[22:4]  ⁹ tn Grk “who.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“who”) was translated by the first person pronoun (“I”) and a new sentence begun in the translation.

[22:4]  ¹⁰ sn That is, persecuted the Christian movement (Christianity). The Way is also used as a description of the Christian faith in Acts 9:2; 18:25-26; 19:9, 23; 24:14, 22).

[22:4]  ¹¹ tn BDAG 442-43 s.v. θάνατος 1.a has “διώκειν ἄχρι θανάτου persecute even to death Ac 22:4.”

[22:4]  ¹² tn Grk “binding.” See Acts 8:3.

[22:4]  ¹³ tn BDAG 762 s.v. παραδίδωμι 1.b has “W. local εἰς…εἰς φυλακήν put in prison Ac 8:3; cp. 22:4.”

[22:19]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ sn When the blood of your witness Stephen was shed means “when your witness Stephen was murdered.”

[22:20]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn Or “outer garments.”

[22:20]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ 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]  ²² tn Grk “They were listening”; the referent (the crowd) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:22]  ²³ tn Grk “until this word.”

[22:22]  ²⁴ tn Grk “And.” To indicate the logical sequence, καί (kai) has been translated as “then” here.

[22:22]  ²⁵ tn Grk “and said.”

[22:22]  ²⁶ tn Grk “this one.”

[22:22]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ tn The participle κραυγαζόντων (kraugazontwn) has been translated temporally.

[22:23]  ²⁹ tn Or “outer garments.”

[22:23]  ³⁰ 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.