Acts 23:20-22

23:20 He replied, ¹  “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council ²  tomorrow, as if they were going to inquire more thoroughly about him. 23:21 So do not let them persuade you to do this, ³  because more than forty of them ⁴  are lying in ambush ⁵  for him. They ⁶  have bound themselves with an oath ⁷  not to eat or drink anything ⁸  until they have killed him, and now they are ready, waiting for you to agree to their request.” ⁹  23:22 Then the commanding officer ¹⁰  sent the young man away, directing him, ¹¹  “Tell no one that you have reported ¹²  these things to me.”

Deuteronomy 13:6-8

False Prophets in the Family

13:6 Suppose your own full brother, ¹³  your son, your daughter, your beloved wife, or your closest friend should seduce you secretly and encourage you to go and serve other gods ¹⁴  that neither you nor your ancestors ¹⁵  have previously known, ¹⁶  13:7 the gods of the surrounding people (whether near you or far from you, from one end of the earth ¹⁷  to the other). 13:8 You must not give in to him or even listen to him; do not feel sympathy for him or spare him or cover up for him.

Proverbs 11:21

11:21 Be assured that ¹⁸  the evil person will certainly be punished, ¹⁹ 

but the descendants of the righteous ²⁰  will not suffer unjust judgment. ²¹ 

Proverbs 16:5

16:5 The Lord abhors ²²  every arrogant person; ²³ 

rest assured ²⁴  that they will not go unpunished. ²⁵ 

Psalms 50:18

50:18 When you see a thief, you join him; ²⁶ 

you associate with men who are unfaithful to their wives. ²⁷ 

Micah 7:3

7:3 They are determined to be experts at doing evil; ²⁸ 

government officials and judges take bribes, ²⁹ 

prominent men make demands,

and they all do what is necessary to satisfy them. ³⁰ 

[23:20]  ¹ tn Grk “He said.”

[23:20]  ² tn Grk “the Sanhedrin” (the Sanhedrin was the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews).

[23:21]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Grk “are lying in wait for him” (BDAG 334 s.v. ἐνεδρεύω); see also v. 16.

[23:21]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 10.

[23:22]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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.

[13:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “your brother, the son of your mother.” In a polygamous society it was not rare to have half brothers and sisters by way of a common father and different mothers.

[13:6]  ¹⁴ tn In the Hebrew text these words are in the form of a brief quotation: “entice you secretly saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods.’”

[13:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 17).

[13:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “which you have not known, you or your fathers.” (cf. KJV, ASV; on “fathers” cf. v. 18).

[13:7]  ¹⁷ tn Or “land” (so NIV, NCV); the same Hebrew word can be translated “land” or “earth.”

[11:21]  ¹⁸ tn The expression “hand to hand” refers the custom of striking hands to confirm an agreement (M. Anbar, “Proverbes 11:21; 16:15; יד ליד, «sur le champ»,” Bib 53 [1972]: 537-38). Tg. Prov 11:21 interprets it differently: “he who lifts up his hand against his neighbor will not go unpunished.”

[11:21]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “will not be free.” The verb נָקָה (naqah) means “to be clean; to be empty.” In the Niphal it means “to be free of guilt; to be clean; to be innocent,” and therefore “to be exempt from punishment” (BDB 667 s.v. Niph). The phrase “will not go unpunished” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) is an example of tapeinosis (a negative statement that emphasizes the positive opposite statement): “will certainly be punished” (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).

[11:21]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the seed of the righteous.” This is an idiom that describes a class of people who share the nature of righteousness (e.g., Isa 1:4; 65:23). The word “seed” (hypocatastasis) means “offspring.” Some take it literally, as if it meant that the children of the righteous will escape judgment (Saadia, a Jewish scholar who lived a.d. 882-942). The LXX translates it in a different sense: “he that sows righteousness will receive a faithful reward.”

[11:21]  ²¹ tn Heb “will be delivered” (so NASB). The phrase “from unjust judgment” does not appear in the Hebrew but is implied by the idiom.

[16:5]  ²² tn Heb “an abomination of the Lord.” The term יְהוָה (yÿhvah, “the Lord”) is a subjective genitive: “the Lord abhors.”

[16:5]  ²³ tn Heb “every proud of heart”; NIV “all the proud of heart.” “Heart” is the genitive of specification; the phrase is talking about people who have proud hearts, whose ideas are arrogant. These are people who set themselves presumptuously against God (e.g., 2 Chr 26:16; Ps 131:1; Prov 18:12).

[16:5]  ²⁴ tn Heb “hand to hand.” This idiom means “you can be assured” (e.g., Prov 11:21).

[16:5]  ²⁵ tc The LXX has inserted two couplets here: “The beginning of a good way is to do justly, // and it is more acceptable with God than to do sacrifices; // he who seeks the Lord will find knowledge with righteousness, // and they who rightly seek him will find peace.” C. H. Toy reminds the reader that there were many proverbs in existence that sounded similar to those in the book of Proverbs; these lines are in the Greek OT as well as in Sirach (Proverbs [ICC], 321-22).

[50:18]  ²⁶ tn Heb “you run with him.”

[50:18]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and with adulterers [is] your portion.”

[7:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “upon evil [are their] hands to do [it] well.”

[7:3]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the official asks – and the judge – for a bribe.”

[7:3]  ³⁰ tn More literally, “the great one announces what his appetite desires and they weave it together.” Apparently this means that subordinates plot and maneuver to make sure the prominent man’s desires materialize.