Acts 4:25-29

4:25 who said by the Holy Spirit through ¹  your servant David our forefather, ² 

‘Why do the nations ³  rage, ⁴ 

and the peoples plot foolish ⁵  things?

4:26 The kings of the earth stood together, ⁶ 

and the rulers assembled together,

against the Lord and against his ⁷  Christ.’ ⁸ 

4:27 “For indeed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together in this city against ⁹  your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, ¹⁰  4:28 to do as much as your power ¹¹  and your plan ¹²  had decided beforehand ¹³  would happen. 4:29 And now, Lord, pay attention to ¹⁴  their threats, and grant ¹⁵  to your servants ¹⁶  to speak your message ¹⁷  with great courage, ¹⁸ 

Acts 17:5

17:5 But the Jews became jealous, ¹⁹  and gathering together some worthless men from the rabble in the marketplace, ²⁰  they formed a mob ²¹  and set the city in an uproar. ²²  They attacked Jason’s house, ²³  trying to find Paul and Silas ²⁴  to bring them out to the assembly. ²⁵ 

Psalms 2:1-3

Psalm 2 ²⁶ 

2:1 Why ²⁷  do the nations rebel? ²⁸ 

Why ²⁹  are the countries ³⁰  devising ³¹  plots that will fail? ³² 

2:2 The kings of the earth ³³  form a united front; ³⁴ 

the rulers collaborate ³⁵ 

against the Lord and his anointed king. ³⁶ 

2:3 They say, ³⁷  “Let’s tear off the shackles they’ve put on us! ³⁸ 

Let’s free ourselves from ³⁹  their ropes!”

Psalms 83:5

83:5 Yes, ⁴⁰  they devise a unified strategy; ⁴¹ 

they form an alliance ⁴²  against you.

Psalms 83:2

83:2 For look, your enemies are making a commotion;

those who hate you are hostile. ⁴³ 

Psalms 3:1

Psalm 3 ⁴⁴ 

A psalm of David, written when he fled from his son Absalom. ⁴⁵ 

3:1 Lord, how ⁴⁶  numerous are my enemies!

Many attack me. ⁴⁷ 

[4:25]  ¹ tn Grk “by the mouth of” (an idiom).

[4:25]  ² tn Or “ancestor”; Grk “father.”

[4:25]  ³ tn Or “Gentiles.”

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

[4:25]  ⁵ tn Or “futile”; traditionally, “vain.”

[4:26]  ⁶ tn Traditionally, “The kings of the earth took their stand.”

[4:26]  ⁷ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[4:26]  ⁸ sn A quotation from Ps 2:1-2.

[4:27]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ sn A wordplay on “Christ,” v. 26, which means “one who has been anointed.”

[4:28]  ¹¹ tn Grk “hand,” here a metaphor for God’s strength or power or authority.

[4:28]  ¹² tn Or “purpose,” “will.”

[4:28]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Or “Lord, take notice of.”

[4:29]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “slaves.” See the note on the word “servants” in 2:18.

[4:29]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “word.”

[4:29]  ¹⁸ tn Or “with all boldness.”

[17:5]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “becoming jealous.” The participle ζηλώσαντες (zhlwsante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. So elsewhere in Acts (5:17; 7:9; 13:45).

[17:5]  ²⁰ tn Literally ἀγοραῖος (agoraio") refers to the crowd in the marketplace, although BDAG 14-15 s.v. ἀγοραῖος 1 gives the meaning, by extension, as “rabble.” Such a description is certainly appropriate in this context. L&N 15.127 translates the phrase “worthless men from the streets.”

[17:5]  ²¹ tn On this term, which is a NT hapax legomenon, see BDAG 745 s.v. ὀχλοποιέω.

[17:5]  ²² tn BDAG 458 s.v. θορυβέω 1 has “set the city in an uproar, start a riot in the city” for the meaning of ἐθορύβουν (eqoruboun) in this verse.

[17:5]  ²³ sn The attack took place at Jason’s house because this was probably the location of the new house church.

[17:5]  ²⁴ tn Grk “them”; the referents (Paul and Silas) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:5]  ²⁵ tn BDAG 223 s.v. δῆμος 2 has “in a Hellenistic city, a convocation of citizens called together for the purpose of transacting official business, popular assembly προάγειν εἰς τὸν δ. Ac 17:5.”

[2:1]  ²⁶ sn Psalm 2. In this royal psalm the author asserts the special status of the divinely chosen Davidic king and warns the nations and their rulers to submit to the authority of God and his chosen vice-regent.

[2:1]  ²⁷ tn The question is rhetorical. Rather than seeking information, the psalmist expresses his outrage that the nations would have the audacity to rebel against God and his chosen king.

[2:1]  ²⁸ tn The Hebrew verb רָגַשׁ (ragash) occurs only here. In Dan 6:6, 11, 15 the Aramaic cognate verb describes several officials acting as a group. A Hebrew nominal derivative is used in Ps 55:14 of a crowd of people in the temple.

[2:1]  ²⁹ tn The interrogative לָמָּה (lamah, “why?”) is understood by ellipsis in the second line.

[2:1]  ³⁰ tn Or “peoples” (so many English versions).

[2:1]  ³¹ tn The Hebrew imperfect form describes the rebellion as underway. The verb הָגָה (hagah), which means “to recite quietly, meditate,” here has the metonymic nuance “devise, plan, plot” (see Ps 38:12; Prov 24:2).

[2:1]  ³² tn Heb “devising emptiness.” The noun רִיק (riq, “emptiness”) may characterize their behavior as “worthless, morally bankrupt” but more likely refers to the outcome of their plots (i.e., failure). As the rest of the psalm emphasizes, their rebellion will fail.

[2:2]  ³³ sn The expression kings of the earth refers somewhat hyperbolically to the kings who had been conquered by and were subject to the Davidic king.

[2:2]  ³⁴ tn Or “take their stand.” The Hebrew imperfect verbal form describes their action as underway.

[2:2]  ³⁵ tn Or “conspire together.” The verbal form is a Niphal from יָסַד (yasad). BDB 413-14 s.v. יָסַד defines the verb as “establish, found,” but HALOT 417 s.v. II יסד proposes a homonym meaning “get together, conspire” (an alternate form of סוּד, sud).

[2:2]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and against his anointed one.” The Davidic king is the referent (see vv. 6-7).

[2:3]  ³⁷ tn The words “they say” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The quotation represents the words of the rebellious kings.

[2:3]  ³⁸ tn Heb “their (i.e., the Lord’s and the king’s) shackles.” The kings compare the rule of the Lord and his vice-regent to being imprisoned.

[2:3]  ³⁹ tn Heb “throw off from us.”

[83:5]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “for.”

[83:5]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “they consult [with] a heart together.”

[83:5]  ⁴² tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[83:2]  ⁴³ tn Heb “lift up [their] head[s].” The phrase “lift up [the] head” here means “to threaten; to be hostile,” as in Judg 8:28.

[3:1]  ⁴⁴ sn Psalm 3. The psalmist acknowledges that he is confronted by many enemies (vv. 1-2). But, alluding to a divine oracle he has received (vv. 4-5), he affirms his confidence in God’s ability to protect him (vv. 3, 6) and requests that God make his promise a reality (vv. 7-8).

[3:1]  ⁴⁵ sn According to Jewish tradition, David offered this prayer when he was forced to flee from Jerusalem during his son Absalom’s attempted coup (see 2 Sam 15:13-17).

[3:1]  ⁴⁶ tn The Hebrew term מָה (mah, “how”) is used here as an adverbial exclamation (see BDB 553 s.v.).

[3:1]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “many rise up against me.”