Acts 4:26

4:26 The kings of the earth stood together, ¹ 

and the rulers assembled together,

against the Lord and against his ²  Christ.’ ³ 

Acts 7:3

7:3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your country and from your relatives, and come to the land I will show you.’ ⁴ 

Acts 8:33

8:33 In humiliation ⁵  justice was taken from him. ⁶ 

Who can describe his posterity? ⁷ 

For his life was taken away ⁸  from the earth.” ⁹ 

Acts 9:8

9:8 So Saul got up from the ground, but although his eyes were open, ¹⁰  he could see nothing. ¹¹  Leading him by the hand, his companions ¹²  brought him into Damascus.

Acts 10:11

10:11 He ¹³  saw heaven ¹⁴  opened ¹⁵  and an object something like a large sheet ¹⁶  descending, ¹⁷  being let down to earth ¹⁸  by its four corners.

Acts 11:6

11:6 As I stared ¹⁹  I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, ²⁰  and wild birds. ²¹ 

Acts 13:47

13:47 For this ²²  is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have appointed ²³  you to be a light ²⁴  for the Gentiles, to bring salvation ²⁵  to the ends of the earth.’” ²⁶ 

Acts 17:24

17:24 The God who made the world and everything in it, ²⁷  who is ²⁸  Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands, ²⁹ 

Acts 17:26

17:26 From one man ³⁰  he made every nation of the human race ³¹  to inhabit the entire earth, ³²  determining their set times ³³  and the fixed limits of the places where they would live, ³⁴ 

[4:26]  ¹ tn Traditionally, “The kings of the earth took their stand.”

[4:26]  ² tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[4:26]  ³ sn A quotation from Ps 2:1-2.

[7:3]  ⁴ sn A quotation from Gen 12:1.

[8:33]  ⁷ tc ‡ Most later mss (C E Ψ 33^vid Ï sy) read “In his humiliation,” adding αὐτοῦ (autou, “his”) after ταπεινώσει (tapeinwsei, “humiliation”), while the earlier and better witnesses lack the pronoun (so Ì⁷⁴ א A B 1739 pc lat). However, the LXX of Isa 53:8 also lacks the pronoun, supplying motivation for scribes to omit it here. At the same time, scribes would also be motivated to add the pronoun both for clarity’s sake (note the similar impulse that led to the addition of δέ [de] by many of the same mss at the beginning of the next line) and to give balance to the lines (the pronoun is indisputably used five other times in vv. 32-33 in quoting Isa 53). On balance, the shorter reading is preferred.

[8:33]  ⁸ tn Or “justice was denied him”; Grk “his justice was taken away.”

[8:33]  ⁹ tn Or “family; or “origin.” The meaning of γενεά (genea) in the quotation is uncertain; BDAG 192 s.v. γενεά 4 suggests “family history.”

[8:33]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “is taken away.” The present tense here was translated as a past tense to maintain consistency with the rest of the quotation.

[8:33]  ¹¹ sn A quotation from Isa 53:7-8.

[9:8]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “his eyes being open,” a genitive absolute construction that has been translated as a concessive adverbial participle.

[9:8]  ¹¹ sn He could see nothing. This sign of blindness, which was temporary until v. 18, is like the sign of deafness experienced by Zechariah in Luke 1. It allowed some time for Saul (Paul) to reflect on what had happened without distractions.

[9:8]  ¹² tn Grk “they”; the referents (Saul’s companions) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:11]  ¹³ tn Grk “And he.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.

[10:11]  ¹⁴ tn Or “the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).

[10:11]  ¹⁵ tn On the heavens “opening,” see Matt 3:16; Luke 3:21; Rev 19:11 (cf. BDAG 84 s.v. ἀνοίγω 2). This is the language of a vision or a revelatory act of God.

[10:11]  ¹⁶ tn Or “a large linen cloth” (the term was used for the sail of a ship; BDAG 693 s.v. ὀθόνη).

[10:11]  ¹⁷ tn Or “coming down.”

[10:11]  ¹⁸ tn Or “to the ground.”

[11:6]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “Staring I looked into it.” The participle ἀτενίσας (atenisa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[11:6]  ¹⁷ tn Or “snakes.” Grk “creeping things.” According to L&N 4.51, in most biblical contexts the term (due to the influence of Hebrew classifications such as Gen 1:25-26, 30) included small four-footed animals like rats, mice, frogs, toads, salamanders, and lizards. In this context, however, where “creeping things” are contrasted with “four-footed animals,” the English word “reptiles,” which primarily but not exclusively designates snakes, is probably more appropriate.

[11:6]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “the birds of the sky” or “the birds of the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated either “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf. BDAG 809 s.v. πετεινόν).

[13:47]  ¹⁹ tn Here οὕτως (Joutws) is taken to refer to what follows, the content of the quotation, as given for this verse by BDAG 742 s.v. οὕτω/οὕτως 2.

[13:47]  ²⁰ tn BDAG 1004 s.v. τίθημι 3.a has “τιθέναι τινὰ εἴς τι place/appoint someone to or for (to function as) someth….Ac 13:47.” This is a double accusative construction of object (“you”) and complement (“a light”).

[13:47]  ²¹ sn Paul alludes here to the language of the Servant in Isaiah, pointing to Isa 42:6; 49:6. He and Barnabas do the work of the Servant in Isaiah.

[13:47]  ²² tn Grk “that you should be for salvation,” but more simply “to bring salvation.”

[13:47]  ²³ sn An allusion to Isa 42:6 and 49:6. The expression the ends of the earth recalls Luke 3:6 and Acts 1:8. Paul sees himself and Barnabas as carrying out the commission of Luke 24:27. (See 2 Cor 6:2, where servant imagery also appears concerning Paul’s message.)

[17:24]  ²² tn Grk “all the things that are in it.” The speech starts with God as Creator, like 14:15.

[17:24]  ²³ tn Or “because he is.” The participle ὑπάρχων (Juparcwn) could be either adjectival, modifying οὗτος (Joutos, “who is Lord…”) or adverbial of cause (“because he is Lord…”). Since the participle διδούς (didou") in v. 25 appears to be clearly causal in force, it is preferable to understand ὑπάρχων as adjectival in this context.

[17:24]  ²⁴ sn On the statement does not live in temples made by human hands compare Acts 7:48. This has implications for idols as well. God cannot be represented by them or, as the following clause also suggests, served by human hands.

[17:26]  ²⁵ sn The one man refers to Adam (the word “man” is understood).

[17:26]  ²⁶ tn Or “mankind.” BDAG 276 s.v. ἔθνος 1 has “every nation of humankind Ac 17:26.”

[17:26]  ²⁷ tn Grk “to live over all the face of the earth.”

[17:26]  ²⁸ tn BDAG 884-85 s.v. προστάσσω has “(οἱ) προστεταγμένοι καιροί (the) fixed times Ac 17:26” here, but since the following phrase is also translated “fixed limits,” this would seem redundant in English, so the word “set” has been used instead.

[17:26]  ²⁹ tn Grk “the boundaries of their habitation.” L&N 80.5 has “fixed limits of the places where they would live” for this phrase.