Acts 5:34

5:34 But a Pharisee ¹  whose name was Gamaliel, ²  a teacher of the law who was respected by all the people, stood up ³  in the council ⁴  and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time.

Acts 8:38

8:38 So he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, ⁵  and Philip baptized ⁶  him.

Acts 12:19

12:19 When Herod ⁷  had searched ⁸  for him and did not find him, he questioned ⁹  the guards and commanded that they be led away to execution. ¹⁰  Then ¹¹  Herod ¹²  went down from Judea to Caesarea ¹³  and stayed there.

Acts 21:33

21:33 Then the commanding officer ¹⁴  came up and arrested ¹⁵  him and ordered him to be tied up with two chains; ¹⁶  he ¹⁷  then asked who he was and what ¹⁸  he had done.

Acts 22:24

22:24 the commanding officer ¹⁹  ordered Paul ²⁰  to be brought back into the barracks. ²¹  He told them ²²  to interrogate Paul ²³  by beating him with a lash ²⁴  so that he could find out the reason the crowd ²⁵  was shouting at Paul ²⁶  in this way.

Acts 23:35

23:35 he said, “I will give you a hearing ²⁷  when your accusers arrive too.” Then ²⁸  he ordered that Paul ²⁹  be kept under guard in Herod’s palace. ³⁰ 

Acts 25:21

25:21 But when Paul appealed to be kept in custody for the decision of His Majesty the Emperor, ³¹  I ordered him to be kept under guard until I could send him to Caesar.” ³² 

[5:34]  ¹ sn A Pharisee was a member of one of the most important and influential religious and political parties of Judaism in the time of Jesus. There were more Pharisees than Sadducees (according to Josephus, Ant. 17.2.4 [17.42] there were more than 6,000 Pharisees at about this time). Pharisees differed with Sadducees on certain doctrines and patterns of behavior. The Pharisees were strict and zealous adherents to the laws of the OT and to numerous additional traditions such as angels and bodily resurrection.

[5:34]  ² sn Gamaliel was a famous Jewish scholar and teacher mentioned here in v. 34 and in Acts 22:3. He had a grandson of the same name and is referred to as “Gamaliel the Elder” to avoid confusion. He is quoted a number of times in the Mishnah, was given the highest possible title for Jewish teachers, Rabba (cf. John 20:16), and was highly regarded in later rabbinic tradition.

[5:34]  ³ tn Grk “standing up in the council, ordered.” The participle ἀναστάς (anasta") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[5:34]  ⁴ tn Or “the Sanhedrin” (the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews).

[8:38]  ⁵ tn Grk “and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch.” Since this is somewhat redundant in English, it was simplified to “and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water.”

[8:38]  ⁶ sn Philip baptized. Again, someone beyond the Twelve has ministered an ordinance of faith.

[12:19]  ⁹ sn King Herod was Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod I (Herod the Great).

[12:19]  ¹⁰ tn Or “had instigated a search” (Herod would have ordered the search rather than conducting it himself).

[12:19]  ¹¹ tn “Questioned” is used to translate ἀνακρίνας (anakrina") here because a possible translation offered by BDAG 66 s.v. ἀνακρίνω for this verse is “examined,” which could be understood to mean Herod inspected the guards rather than questioned them. The translation used by the NIV, “cross-examined,” also avoids this possible misunderstanding.

[12:19]  ¹² tn The meaning “led away to execution” for ἀπαχθῆναι (apacqhnai) in this verse is given by BDAG 95 s.v. ἀπάγω 2.c. Although an explicit reference to execution is lacking here, it is what would usually occur in such a case (Acts 16:27; 27:42; Code of Justinian 9.4.4). “Led away to torture” is a less likely option (Pliny the Younger, Letters 10, 96, 8).

[12:19]  ¹³ tn Grk “and,” but the sequence of events is better expressed in English by “then.” A new sentence is begun in the translation because of the length of the sentence in Greek, which exceeds normal English sentence length.

[12:19]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Herod) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Since Herod has been the subject of the preceding material, and the circumstances of his death are the subject of the following verses (20-23), it is best to understand Herod as the subject here. This is especially true since according to Josephus, Ant. 19.8.2 [19.343-352], Herod Agrippa I died at Caesarea in a.d. 44, and vv. 20-23 here describe his death. Thus the end of v. 19 provides Luke’s transition to explain how Herod got from Jerusalem to Caesarea where he died. In spite of all this evidence, the NRSV translates this phrase “Then Peter went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there,” understanding the referent to be Peter rather than Herod Agrippa I.

[12:19]  ¹⁵ sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi). See the note on Caesarea in Acts 10:1.

[21:33]  ¹³ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 31.

[21:33]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “seized.”

[21:33]  ¹⁵ tn The two chains would be something like handcuffs (BDAG 48 s.v. ἅλυσις and compare Acts 28:20).

[21:33]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “and he.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was begun in the translation, and καί (kai) has been replaced with a semicolon. “Then” has been supplied after “he” to clarify the logical sequence.

[21:33]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “and what it is”; this has been simplified to “what.”

[22:24]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). In Greek the term χιλίαρχος (ciliarco") literally described the “commander of a thousand,” but it was used as the standard translation for the Latin tribunus militum or tribunus militare, the military tribune who commanded a cohort of 600 men.

[22:24]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:24]  ¹⁹ tn Or “the headquarters.” BDAG 775 s.v. παρεμβολή 2 has “barracks/headquarters of the Roman troops in Jerusalem Ac 21:34, 37; 22:24; 23:10, 16, 32.”

[22:24]  ²⁰ tn Grk “into the barracks, saying.” This is a continuation of the same sentence in Greek using the participle εἴπας (eipas), but due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence a new sentence was begun in the translation here. The direct object “them” has been supplied; it is understood in Greek.

[22:24]  ²¹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:24]  ²² sn To interrogate Paul by beating him with a lash. Under the Roman legal system it was customary to use physical torture to extract confessions or other information from prisoners who were not Roman citizens and who were charged with various crimes, especially treason or sedition. The lashing would be done with a whip of leather thongs with pieces of metal or bone attached to the ends.

[22:24]  ²³ tn Grk “they”; the referent (the crowd) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:24]  ²⁴ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:35]  ²¹ tn Or “I will hear your case.” BDAG 231 s.v. διακούω has “as legal t.t. give someone an opportunity to be heard in court, give someone (τινός) a hearing Ac 23:35”; L&N 56.13 has “to give a judicial hearing in a legal matter – ‘to hear a case, to provide a legal hearing, to hear a case in court.’”

[23:35]  ²² tn Grk “ordering.” The participle κελεύσας (keleusas) has been translated as a finite verb and a new sentence begun here due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence. “Then” has also been supplied to indicate the logical and temporal sequence.

[23:35]  ²³ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:35]  ²⁴ sn Herod’s palace (Grk “Herod’s praetorium”) was the palace built in Caesarea by Herod the Great. See Josephus, Ant. 15.9.6 (15.331). These events belong to the period of a.d. 56-57.

[25:21]  ²⁵ tn A designation of the Roman emperor (in this case, Nero). BDAG 917 s.v. σεβαστός states, “ὁ Σεβαστός His Majesty the Emperor Ac 25:21, 25 (of Nero).” It was a translation into Greek of the Latin “Augustus.”

[25:21]  ²⁶ tn Or “to the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).