Acts 4:4

4:4 But many of those who had listened to ¹  the message ²  believed, and the number of the men ³  came to about five thousand.

Acts 14:2

14:2 But the Jews who refused to believe ⁴  stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds ⁵  against the brothers.

Acts 15:20

15:20 but that we should write them a letter ⁶  telling them to abstain ⁷  from things defiled ⁸  by idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled ⁹  and from blood.

Acts 17:12

17:12 Therefore many of them believed, along with quite a few ¹⁰  prominent ¹¹  Greek women and men.

[4:4]  ¹ tn Or “had heard.”

[4:4]  ² tn Or “word.”

[4:4]  ³ tn In the historical setting it is likely that only men are referred to here. The Greek term ἀνήρ (anhr) usually refers to males or husbands rather than people in general. Thus to translate “of the people” would give a false impression of the number, since any women and children were apparently not included in the count.

[14:2]  ⁴ tn Or “who would not believe.”

[14:2]  ⁵ tn Or “embittered their minds” (Grk “their souls”). BDAG 502 s.v. κακόω 2 has “make angry, embitter τὰς ψυχάς τινων κατά τινος poison the minds of some persons against another Ac 14:2.”

[15:20]  ⁷ tn The translation “to write a letter, to send a letter to” for ἐπιστέλλω (epistellw) is given in L&N 33.49.

[15:20]  ⁸ tn Three of the four prohibitions deal with food (the first, third and fourth) while one prohibition deals with behavior (the second, refraining from sexual immorality). Since these occur in the order they do, the translation “abstain from” is used to cover both sorts of activity (eating food items, immoral behavior).

[15:20]  ⁹ tn Or “polluted.”

[15:20]  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 following provision in Acts 15:20, and from blood).

[17:12]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “not a few”; this use of negation could be misleading to the modern English reader, however, and so has been translated as “quite a few” (which is the actual meaning of the expression).

[17:12]  ¹¹ tn Or “respected.”