Acts 23:16-24

23:16 But when the son of Paul’s sister heard about the ambush, ¹  he came and entered ²  the barracks ³  and told Paul. 23:17 Paul called ⁴  one of the centurions ⁵  and said, “Take this young man to the commanding officer, ⁶  for he has something to report to him.” 23:18 So the centurion ⁷  took him and brought him to the commanding officer ⁸  and said, “The prisoner Paul called ⁹  me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you.” 23:19 The commanding officer ¹⁰  took him by the hand, withdrew privately, and asked, “What is it that you want ¹¹  to report to me?” 23:20 He replied, ¹²  “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council ¹³  tomorrow, as if they were going to inquire more thoroughly about him. 23:21 So do not let them persuade you to do this, ¹⁴  because more than forty of them ¹⁵  are lying in ambush ¹⁶  for him. They ¹⁷  have bound themselves with an oath ¹⁸  not to eat or drink anything ¹⁹  until they have killed him, and now they are ready, waiting for you to agree to their request.” ²⁰  23:22 Then the commanding officer ²¹  sent the young man away, directing him, ²²  “Tell no one that you have reported ²³  these things to me.” 23:23 Then ²⁴  he summoned ²⁵  two of the centurions ²⁶  and said, “Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea ²⁷  along with seventy horsemen ²⁸  and two hundred spearmen ²⁹  by ³⁰  nine o’clock tonight, ³¹  23:24 and provide mounts for Paul to ride ³²  so that he may be brought safely to Felix ³³  the governor.” ³⁴ 

[23:16]  ¹ tn Or “plot” (BDAG 334 s.v. ἐνέδρα).

[23:16]  ² tn Grk “coming and entering…, he told.” The participles παραγενόμενος (paragenomeno") and εἰσελθών (eiselqwn) have been translated as finite verbs due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[23:16]  ³ 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.”

[23:17]  ⁴ tn Grk “calling…Paul said.” The participle προσκαλεσάμενος (proskalesameno") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[23:17]  ⁵ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[23:17]  ⁶ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 10.

[23:18]  ⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the centurion) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:18]  ⁸ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 10.

[23:18]  ⁹ tn Grk “calling.” The participle προσκαλεσάμενος (proskalesameno") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[23:19]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 10.

[23:19]  ¹¹ tn Grk “you have,” but the expression “have to report” in English could be understood to mean “must report” rather than “possess to report.” For this reason the nearly equivalent expression “want to report,” which is not subject to misunderstanding, was used in the translation.

[23:20]  ¹² tn Grk “He said.”

[23:20]  ¹³ tn Grk “the Sanhedrin” (the Sanhedrin was the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews).

[23:21]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “do not be persuaded by them.” The passive construction μὴ πεισθῇς αὐτοῖς (mh peisqh" autoi") has been converted to an active construction in the translation, and the phrase “to do this” supplied to indicate more clearly the object of their persuasion.

[23:21]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “forty men of them.” In the expression ἐξ αὐτῶν ἄνδρες (ex autwn andre") “men” is somewhat redundant and has not been included in the English translation.

[23:21]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “are lying in wait for him” (BDAG 334 s.v. ἐνεδρεύω); see also v. 16.

[23:21]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “for him, who.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“who”) was translated by the third person plural pronoun (“they”) and a new sentence begun in the translation.

[23:21]  ¹⁸ tn Or “bound themselves under a curse.” BDAG 63 s.v. ἀναθεματίζω 1 has “trans. put under a curse τινά someone… ἀ. ἑαυτόν vss. 12, 21, 13 v.l.”

[23:21]  ¹⁹ tn The word “anything” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[23:21]  ²⁰ tn Grk “waiting for your approval,” “waiting for your agreement.” Since it would be possible to misunderstand the literal translation “waiting for your approval” to mean that the Jews were waiting for the commander’s approval to carry out their plot or to kill Paul (as if he were to be an accomplice to their plot), the object of the commander’s approval (their request to bring Paul to the council) has been specified in the translation as “their request.”

[23:22]  ²¹ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 10.

[23:22]  ²² tn BDAG 760 s.v. παραγγέλλω has “to make an announcement about someth. that must be done, give orders, command, instruct, direct of all kinds of persons in authority, worldly rulers, Jesus, the apostles…παραγγέλλειν w. an inf. and μή comes to mean forbid to do someth.: π. τινί w. aor. inf. Lk 5:14; 8:56; without the dat., which is easily supplied fr. the context Ac 23:22.” However, if the direct discourse which follows is to be retained in the translation, a different translation must be used since it is awkward to introduce direct discourse with the verb to forbid. Thus the alternative to direct was used.

[23:22]  ²³ tn On this verb, see BDAG 325-26 s.v. ἐμφανίζω 2. The term was frequently used of an official report to authorities. In modern terms, this was a police tip.

[23:23]  ²⁴ tn Grk “And.” Since this represents a response to the reported ambush, καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the logical sequence.

[23:23]  ²⁵ tn Grk “summoning…he said.” The participle προσκαλεσάμενος (proskalesameno") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[23:23]  ²⁶ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[23:23]  ²⁷ sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi). See the note on Caesarea in Acts 10:1. This was a journey of about 65 mi (just over 100 km).

[23:23]  ²⁸ tn Or “cavalrymen.”

[23:23]  ²⁹ tn A military technical term of uncertain meaning. BDAG 217 s.v. δεξιολάβος states, “a word of uncertain mng., military t.t., acc. to Joannes Lydus…and Theophyl. Sim., Hist. 4, 1 a light-armed soldier, perh. bowman, slinger; acc. to a scholion in CMatthaei p. 342 body-guard….Spearman Goodspd., NRSV; ‘security officer’, GDKilpatrick, JTS 14, ’63, 393f.”

[23:23]  ³⁰ tn Grk “from.”

[23:23]  ³¹ tn Grk “from the third hour of the night.”

[23:24]  ³² tn Grk “provide mounts to put Paul on.”

[23:24]  ³³ sn Felix the governor was Antonius Felix, a freedman of Antonia, mother of the Emperor Claudius. He was the brother of Pallas and became procurator of Palestine in a.d. 52/53. His administration was notorious for its corruption, cynicism, and cruelty. According to the historian Tacitus (History 5.9) Felix “reveled in cruelty and lust, and wielded the power of a king with the mind of a slave.”

[23:24]  ³⁴ tn Grk “Felix the procurator.” The official Roman title has been translated as “governor” (BDAG 433 s.v. ἡγεμών 2).