Acts 26:12-16

26:12 “While doing this very thing, ¹  as I was going ²  to Damascus with authority and complete power ³  from the chief priests, 26:13 about noon along the road, Your Majesty, ⁴  I saw a light from heaven, ⁵  brighter than the sun, shining everywhere around ⁶  me and those traveling with me. 26:14 When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ⁷  ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? You are hurting yourself ⁸  by kicking against the goads.’ ⁹  26:15 So I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord replied, ¹⁰  ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 26:16 But get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this reason, to designate you in advance ¹¹  as a servant and witness ¹²  to the things ¹³  you have seen ¹⁴  and to the things in which I will appear to you.

[26:12]  ¹ tn Grk “in which [activity].” Due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 12 in the translation. The referent of the relative pronoun (“which”) was specified as “this very thing” for clarity.

[26:12]  ² tn Grk “going.” The participle πορευόμενος (poreuomenos) has been taken temporally.

[26:12]  ³ tn L&N 37.40 s.v. ἐπιτροπή states, “the full authority to carry out an assignment or commission – ‘authority, complete power.’ πορευόμενος εἰς τὴν Δαμασκὸν μετ᾿ ἐξουσίας καὶ ἐπιτροπῆς τῶν ἀρχιερέων ‘going to Damascus with authority and complete power from the high priests’ Ac 26:12. In Ac 26:12 the combination of ἐξουσία and ἐπιτροπή serves to reinforce the sense of complete authority.”

[26:13]  ⁴ tn Grk “O King.”

[26:13]  ⁵ tn Or “from the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).

[26:13]  ⁶ tn The word “everywhere” has been supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning of περιλάμψαν (perilamyan). Otherwise the modern reader might think that each of the individuals were encircled by lights or halos. See also Acts 9:7; 22:6, 9.

[26:14]  ⁷ tn Grk “in the Hebrew language.” See Acts 22:7 and 9:4.

[26:14]  ⁸ tn Grk “It is hard for you.”

[26:14]  ⁹ tn “Goads” are pointed sticks used to direct a draft animal (an idiom for stubborn resistance). See BDAG 539-40 s.v. κέντρον 2.

[26:15]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “said.”

[26:16]  ¹¹ tn L&N 30.89 has “‘to choose in advance, to select beforehand, to designate in advance.’”

[26:16]  ¹² sn As a servant and witness. The commission is similar to Acts 1:8 and Luke 1:2. Paul was now an “eyewitness” of the Lord.

[26:16]  ¹³ tn BDAG 719 s.v. ὁράω A.1.b states, “W. attraction of the relative ὧν = τούτων ἅ Lk 9:36; Ac 22:15. The attraction may be due to colloq. breviloquence in μάρτυρα ὧν τε εἶδες με ὧν τε ὀφθήσομαί σοι a witness to the things in which you saw me and to those in which I shall appear to you Ac 26:16b.”

[26:16]  ¹⁴ tc ‡ Some mss read “of the things in which you have seen me.” The accusative object με (me, “me”) is found after εἶδές (eide") in B C*^vid 614 945 1175 1505 1739 1891 2464 pc sy sa; it is lacking in Ì⁷⁴ א A C² E Ψ 096 Ï latt bo. The external evidence is relatively evenly divided, though there is a slight preference for the omission. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating some doubt as to its authenticity.