Acts 5:18

5:18 They ¹  laid hands on ²  the apostles and put them in a public jail.

Acts 6:6

6:6 They stood these men before the apostles, who prayed ³  and placed ⁴  their hands on them.

Acts 8:17

8:17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on the Samaritans, ⁵  and they received the Holy Spirit. ⁶ 

Acts 13:3

13:3 Then, after they had fasted ⁷  and ⁸  prayed and placed their hands ⁹  on them, they sent them off.

[5:18]  ¹ tn Grk “jealousy, and they.” In the Greek text this is a continuation of the previous sentence, but a new sentence has been started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[5:18]  ² tn Or “they arrested.”

[6:6]  ³ tn Literally this is a participle in the Greek text (προσευξάμενοι, proseuxamenoi). It could be translated as a finite verb (“and they prayed and placed their hands on them”) but much smoother English results if the entire coordinate clause is converted to a relative clause that refers back to the apostles.

[6:6]  ⁴ tn Or “laid.”

[8:17]  ⁵ tn Grk “on them”; the referent (the Samaritans) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:17]  ⁶ sn They received the Holy Spirit. It is likely this special distribution of the Spirit took place because a key ethnic boundary was being crossed. Here are some of “those far off” of Acts 2:38-40.

[13:3]  ⁷ tn The three aorist participles νηστεύσαντες (nhsteusante"), προσευξάμενοι (proseuxamenoi), and ἐπιθέντες (epiqente") are translated as temporal participles. Although they could indicate contemporaneous time when used with an aorist main verb, logically here they are antecedent. On fasting and prayer, see Matt 6:5, 16; Luke 2:37; 5:33; Acts 14:23.

[13:3]  ⁸ tn Normally English style, which uses a coordinating conjunction between only the last two elements of a series of three or more, would call for omission of “and” here. However, since the terms “fasting and prayer” are something of a unit, often linked together, the conjunction has been retained here.

[13:3]  ⁹ sn The placing of hands on Barnabas and Saul (traditionally known as “the laying on of hands”) refers to an act picturing the commission of God and the church for the task at hand.