Acts 4:24-30

4:24 When they heard this, they raised their voices to God with one mind ¹  and said, “Master of all, ²  you who made the heaven, the earth, ³  the sea, and everything that is in them, 4:25 who said by the Holy Spirit through ⁴  your servant David our forefather, ⁵ 

‘Why do the nations ⁶  rage, ⁷ 

and the peoples plot foolish ⁸  things?

4:26 The kings of the earth stood together, ⁹ 

and the rulers assembled together,

against the Lord and against his ¹⁰  Christ.’ ¹¹ 

4:27 “For indeed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together in this city against ¹²  your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, ¹³  4:28 to do as much as your power ¹⁴  and your plan ¹⁵  had decided beforehand ¹⁶  would happen. 4:29 And now, Lord, pay attention to ¹⁷  their threats, and grant ¹⁸  to your servants ¹⁹  to speak your message ²⁰  with great courage, ²¹  4:30 while you extend your hand to heal, and to bring about miraculous signs ²²  and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

[4:24]  ¹ sn With one mind. Compare Acts 1:14.

[4:24]  ² tn Or “Lord of all.”

[4:24]  ³ tn Grk “and the earth, and the sea,” but καί (kai) has not been translated before “the earth” and “the sea” since contemporary English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[4:25]  ⁴ tn Grk “by the mouth of” (an idiom).

[4:25]  ⁵ tn Or “ancestor”; Grk “father.”

[4:25]  ⁶ tn Or “Gentiles.”

[4:25]  ⁷ sn The Greek word translated rage includes not only anger but opposition, both verbal and nonverbal. See L&N 88.185.

[4:25]  ⁸ tn Or “futile”; traditionally, “vain.”

[4:26]  ⁹ tn Traditionally, “The kings of the earth took their stand.”

[4:26]  ¹⁰ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[4:26]  ¹¹ sn A quotation from Ps 2:1-2.

[4:27]  ¹² sn The application of Ps 2:1-2 is that Jews and Gentiles are opposing Jesus. The surprise of the application is that Jews are now found among the enemies of God’s plan.

[4:27]  ¹³ sn A wordplay on “Christ,” v. 26, which means “one who has been anointed.”

[4:28]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “hand,” here a metaphor for God’s strength or power or authority.

[4:28]  ¹⁵ tn Or “purpose,” “will.”

[4:28]  ¹⁶ tn Or “had predestined.” Since the term “predestine” is something of a technical theological term, not in wide usage in contemporary English, the translation “decide beforehand” was used instead (see L&N 30.84). God’s direction remains as the major theme.

[4:29]  ¹⁷ tn Or “Lord, take notice of.”

[4:29]  ¹⁸ sn Grant to your servants to speak your message with great courage. The request is not for a stop to persecution or revenge on the opponents, but for boldness (great courage) to carry out the mission of proclaiming the message of what God is doing through Jesus.

[4:29]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “slaves.” See the note on the word “servants” in 2:18.

[4:29]  ²⁰ tn Grk “word.”

[4:29]  ²¹ tn Or “with all boldness.”

[4:30]  ²² tn The miraculous nature of these signs is implied in the context.