Acts 5:11

5:11 Great ¹  fear gripped ²  the whole church ³  and all who heard about these things.

Acts 5:5

5:5 When Ananias heard these words he collapsed and died, and great fear gripped ⁴  all who heard about it.

Acts 16:26

16:26 Suddenly a great earthquake occurred, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. Immediately all the doors flew open, and the bonds ⁵  of all the prisoners came loose.

Acts 8:1

8:1 And Saul agreed completely with killing ⁶  him.

Saul Begins to Persecute the Church

Now on that day a great ⁷  persecution began ⁸  against the church in Jerusalem, ⁹  and all ¹⁰  except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions ¹¹  of Judea and Samaria.

[5:11]  ¹ tn Grk “And great.” 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.

[5:11]  ² tn Or “fear came on,” “fear seized”; Grk “fear happened to.”

[5:11]  ³ sn This is the first occurrence of the term church (ἐκκλησία, ekklhsia) in Acts. It refers to an assembly of people.

[5:5]  ⁴ tn Or “fear came on,” “fear seized”; Grk “fear happened to.”

[16:26]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps, “chains.” The translation of τὰ δεσμά (ta desma) is to some extent affected by the understanding of ξύλον (xulon, “stocks”) in v. 24. It is possible (as mentioned in L&N 18.12) that this does not mean “stocks” but a block of wood (a log or wooden column) in the prison to which prisoners’ feet were chained or tied.

[8:1]  ¹⁰ tn The term ἀναίρεσις (anairesi") can refer to murder (BDAG 64 s.v.; 2 Macc 5:13; Josephus, Ant. 5.2.12 [5.165]).

[8:1]  ¹¹ tn Or “severe.”

[8:1]  ¹² tn Grk “Now there happened on that day a great persecution.” It is less awkward to say in English “Now on that day a great persecution began.”

[8:1]  ¹³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[8:1]  ¹⁴ sn All. Given that the Jerusalem church is still active after this and that the Hellenists are the focus of Acts 6-8, it is possible to argue that only the Hellenistic Christians were forced to scatter.

[8:1]  ¹⁵ tn Or “countryside.”