Acts 23:18-22

23:18 So the centurion ¹  took him and brought him to the commanding officer ²  and said, “The prisoner Paul called ³  me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you.” 23:19 The commanding officer ⁴  took him by the hand, withdrew privately, and asked, “What is it that you want ⁵  to report to me?” 23:20 He replied, ⁶  “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council ⁷  tomorrow, as if they were going to inquire more thoroughly about him. 23:21 So do not let them persuade you to do this, ⁸  because more than forty of them ⁹  are lying in ambush ¹⁰  for him. They ¹¹  have bound themselves with an oath ¹²  not to eat or drink anything ¹³  until they have killed him, and now they are ready, waiting for you to agree to their request.” ¹⁴  23:22 Then the commanding officer ¹⁵  sent the young man away, directing him, ¹⁶  “Tell no one that you have reported ¹⁷  these things to me.”

[23:18]  ¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the centurion) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:18]  ² tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 10.

[23:18]  ³ tn Grk “calling.” The participle προσκαλεσάμενος (proskalesameno") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[23:19]  ⁴ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 10.

[23:19]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Grk “He said.”

[23:20]  ⁷ tn Grk “the Sanhedrin” (the Sanhedrin was the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews).

[23:21]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “are lying in wait for him” (BDAG 334 s.v. ἐνεδρεύω); see also v. 16.

[23:21]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 10.

[23:22]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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.