Acts 3:22

3:22 Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must obey ¹  him in everything he tells you. ² 

Acts 17:11

17:11 These Jews ³  were more open-minded ⁴  than those in Thessalonica, ⁵  for they eagerly ⁶  received ⁷  the message, examining ⁸  the scriptures carefully every day ⁹  to see if these things were so.

Acts 19:19

19:19 Large numbers ¹⁰  of those who had practiced magic ¹¹  collected their books ¹²  and burned them up in the presence of everyone. ¹³  When ¹⁴  the value of the books was added up, it was found to total fifty thousand silver coins. ¹⁵ 

Acts 21:25

21:25 But regarding the Gentiles who have believed, we have written a letter, having decided ¹⁶  that they should avoid ¹⁷  meat that has been sacrificed to idols ¹⁸  and blood and what has been strangled ¹⁹  and sexual immorality.”

Acts 24:14

24:14 But I confess this to you, that I worship ²⁰  the God of our ancestors ²¹  according to the Way (which they call a sect), believing everything that is according to the law ²²  and that is written in the prophets.

Acts 26:26

26:26 For the king knows about these things, and I am speaking freely ²³  to him, ²⁴  because I cannot believe ²⁵  that any of these things has escaped his notice, ²⁶  for this was not done in a corner. ²⁷ 

[3:22]  ¹ tn Grk “hear,” but the idea of “hear and obey” or simply “obey” is frequently contained in the Greek verb ἀκούω (akouw; see L&N 36.14) and the following context (v. 23) makes it clear that failure to “obey” the words of this “prophet like Moses” will result in complete destruction.

[3:22]  ² sn A quotation from Deut 18:15. By quoting Deut 18:15 Peter declared that Jesus was the eschatological “prophet like [Moses]” mentioned in that passage, who reveals the plan of God and the way of God.

[17:11]  ³ tn Grk “These”; the referent (the Jews in the synagogue at Berea) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:11]  ⁴ tn Or “more willing to learn.” L&N 27.48 and BDAG 404 s.v. εὐγενής 2 both use the term “open-minded” here. The point is that they were more receptive to Paul’s message.

[17:11]  ⁵ sn Thessalonica was a city in Macedonia (modern Salonica).

[17:11]  ⁶ tn Or “willingly,” “readily”; Grk “with all eagerness.”

[17:11]  ⁷ tn Grk “who received.” Here the relative pronoun (“who”) has been translated as a pronoun (“they”) preceded by a semicolon, which is less awkward in contemporary English than a relative clause at this point.

[17:11]  ⁸ tn This verb (BDAG 66 s.v. ἀνακρίνω 1) refers to careful examination.

[17:11]  ⁹ tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase in this verse.

[19:19]  ⁵ tn BDAG 472 s.v. ἱκανός 4.a has “many, quite a few” for ἱκανοί (Jikanoi) in this verse.

[19:19]  ⁶ tn On this term see BDAG 800 s.v. περίεργος 2.

[19:19]  ⁷ tn Or “scrolls.”

[19:19]  ⁸ tn Or “burned them up publicly.” L&N 14.66 has “‘they brought their books together and burned them up in the presence of everyone’ Ac 19:19.”

[19:19]  ⁹ tn Grk “and when.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.

[19:19]  ¹⁰ tn Or “fifty thousand silver drachmas” (about $10,000 US dollars). BDAG 128 s.v. ἀργύριον 2.c states, “ἀργυρίου μυριάδας πέντε 50,000 (Attic silver) drachmas Ac 19:19.” Another way to express the value would be in sheep: One drachma could buy one sheep. So this many drachmas could purchase a huge flock of sheep. A drachma also equals a denarius, or a day’s wage for the average worker. So this amount would be equal to 50,000 work days or in excess of 8,300 weeks of labor (the weeks are calculated at six working days because of the Jewish cultural context). The impact of Christianity on the Ephesian economy was considerable (note in regard to this the concerns expressed in 19:26-27).

[21:25]  ⁷ tn L&N 13.154 has “‘having decided that they must keep themselves from food offered to idols, from blood, from an animal that has been strangled, and from sexual immorality’ Ac 21:25.”

[21:25]  ⁸ tn This is a different Greek word than the one used in Acts 15:20, 29. BDAG 1068 s.v. φυλάσσω 3 has “to be on one’s guard against, look out for, avoid…w. acc. of pers. or thing avoided…Ac 21:25.” The Greek word used in Acts 15:20, 29 is ἀπέχω (apecw). The difference in meaning, although slight, has been maintained in the translation.

[21:25]  ⁹ tn There is no specific semantic component in the Greek word εἰδωλόθυτος that means “meat” (see BDAG 280 s.v. εἰδωλόθυτος; L&N 5.15). The stem –θυτος means “sacrifice” (referring to an animal sacrificially killed) and thereby implies meat.

[21:25]  ¹⁰ sn What has been strangled. That is, to refrain from eating animals that had been killed without having the blood drained from them. According to the Mosaic law (Lev 17:13-14) Jews were forbidden to eat flesh with the blood still in it (note the preceding provision in this verse, and blood).

[24:14]  ⁹ tn Or “serve.”

[24:14]  ¹⁰ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[24:14]  ¹¹ sn That is, the law of Moses. Paul was claiming that he legitimately worshiped the God of Israel. He was arguing that this amounted to a religious dispute rather than a political one, so that the Roman authorities need not concern themselves with it.

[26:26]  ¹¹ tn BDAG 782 s.v. παρρησιάζομαι 1 states, “speak freely, openly, fearlessly…likew. in the ptc. w. a verb of saying foll.…παρρησιασάμενοι εἶπαν 13:46. – 26:26.” This could refer to boldness in speaking here.

[26:26]  ¹² tn Grk “to whom I am speaking freely.” The relative pronoun (“whom”) was replaced by the personal pronoun (“him”) to simplify the translation.

[26:26]  ¹³ tn Grk “I cannot convince myself.” BDAG 792 s.v. πείθω 3.a states, “οὐ πείθομαι w. acc. and inf. I cannot believe Ac 26:26” (see also BDAG 586 s.v. λανθάνω).

[26:26]  ¹⁴ tn BDAG 586 s.v. λανθάνω states, “λανθάνειν αὐτὸν τούτων οὐ πείθομαι οὐθέν I cannot bring myself to believe that any of these things has escaped his notice Ac 26:26.”

[26:26]  ¹⁵ tn This term refers to a hidden corner (BDAG 209 s.v. γωνία). Paul’s point is that these events to which he refers were not done in a secret, hidden place, tucked away outside of view. They were done in public for all the world to see.