Acts 3:25

3:25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, ¹  saying to Abraham, ‘And in your descendants ²  all the nations ³  of the earth will be blessed.’ ⁴ 

Acts 7:42

7:42 But God turned away from them and gave them over ⁵  to worship the host ⁶  of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘It was not to me that you offered slain animals and sacrifices ⁷  forty years in the wilderness, was it, ⁸  house of Israel?

Acts 7:52

7:52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors ⁹  not persecute? ¹⁰  They ¹¹  killed those who foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One, ¹²  whose betrayers and murderers you have now become! ¹³ 

Acts 13:15

13:15 After the reading from the law and the prophets, ¹⁴  the leaders of the synagogue ¹⁵  sent them a message, ¹⁶  saying, “Brothers, ¹⁷  if you have any message ¹⁸  of exhortation ¹⁹  for the people, speak it.” ²⁰ 

Acts 13:27

13:27 For the people who live in Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize ²¹  him, ²²  and they fulfilled the sayings ²³  of the prophets that are read every Sabbath by condemning ²⁴  him. ²⁵ 

[3:25]  ¹ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[3:25]  ² tn Or “in your offspring”; Grk “in your seed.”

[3:25]  ³ tn Or “families.” The Greek word πατριά (patria) can indicate persons of succeeding generations who are related by birth (“lineage,” “family”) but it can also indicate a relatively large unit of people who make up a sociopolitical group and who share a presumed biological descent. In many contexts πατριά is very similar to ἔθνος (eqnos) and λαός (laos). In light of the context of the OT quotation, it is better to translate πατριά as “nations” here.

[3:25]  ⁴ sn A quotation from Gen 22:18.

[7:42]  ⁵ sn The expression and gave them over suggests similarities to the judgment on the nations described by Paul in Rom 1:18-32.

[7:42]  ⁶ tn Or “stars.”

[7:42]  ⁷ tn The two terms for sacrifices “semantically reinforce one another and are here combined essentially for emphasis” (L&N 53.20).

[7:42]  ⁸ tn The Greek construction anticipates a negative reply which is indicated in the translation by the ‘tag’ question, “was it?”

[7:52]  ⁹ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:52]  ¹⁰ sn Which…persecute. The rhetorical question suggests they persecuted them all.

[7:52]  ¹¹ tn Grk “And they.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[7:52]  ¹² sn The Righteous One is a reference to Jesus Christ.

[7:52]  ¹³ sn Whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. The harsh critique has OT precedent (1 Kgs 19:10-14; Neh 9:26; 2 Chr 36:16).

[13:15]  ¹³ sn After the reading from the law and the prophets. In the 1st century Jewish synagogue, it was customary after the reading of the Torah (law) and prophets for men to give exhortation from the scriptures.

[13:15]  ¹⁴ tn Normally ἀρχισυνάγωγος (arcisunagwgo") refers to the “president of a synagogue” (so BDAG 139 s.v. and L&N 53.93). Since the term is plural here, however, and it would sound strange to the English reader to speak of “the presidents of the synagogue,” the alternative translation “leaders” is used. “Rulers” would also be acceptable, but does not convey quite the same idea.

[13:15]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “sent to them”; the word “message” is an understood direct object. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[13:15]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “Men brothers,” but this is both awkward and unnecessary in English.

[13:15]  ¹⁷ tn Or “word.”

[13:15]  ¹⁸ tn Or “encouragement.”

[13:15]  ¹⁹ tn Or “give it.”

[13:27]  ¹⁷ tn BDAG 12-13 s.v. ἀγνοέω 1.b gives “not to know w. acc. of pers.” as the meaning here, but “recognize” is a better translation in this context because recognition of the true identity of the one they condemned is the issue. See Acts 2:22-24; 4:26-28.

[13:27]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “this one.”

[13:27]  ¹⁹ tn Usually φωνή (fwnh) means “voice,” but BDAG 1071-72 s.v. φωνή 2.c has “Also of sayings in scripture…Ac 13:27.”

[13:27]  ²⁰ tn The participle κρίναντες (krinante") is instrumental here.

[13:27]  ²¹ tn The word “him” 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.