Acts 5:4

5:4 Before it was sold, ¹  did it not ²  belong to you? And when it was sold, was the money ³  not at your disposal? How have you thought up this deed in your heart? ⁴  You have not lied to people ⁵  but to God!”

Acts 17:23

17:23 For as I went around and observed closely your objects of worship, ⁶  I even found an altar with this inscription: ⁷  ‘To an unknown god.’ Therefore what you worship without knowing it, ⁸  this I proclaim to you.

Acts 24:14

24:14 But I confess this to you, that I worship ⁹  the God of our ancestors ¹⁰  according to the Way (which they call a sect), believing everything that is according to the law ¹¹  and that is written in the prophets.

Acts 26:29

26:29 Paul replied, “I pray to God that whether in a short or a long time ¹²  not only you but also all those who are listening to me today could become such as I am, except for these chains.” ¹³ 

Acts 28:15

28:15 The brothers from there, ¹⁴  when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius ¹⁵  and Three Taverns ¹⁶  to meet us. When he saw them, ¹⁷  Paul thanked God and took courage.

[5:4]  ¹ tn Grk “Remaining to you.”

[5:4]  ² tn The negative interrogative particle οὐχί (ouci) expects a positive reply to this question and the following one (“And when it was sold, was it not at your disposal?”).

[5:4]  ³ tn Grk “it”; the referent of the pronoun (the money generated from the sale of the land) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:4]  ⁴ tn Grk “How is it that you have [or Why have you] placed this deed in your heart?” Both of these literal translations differ from the normal way of expressing the thought in English.

[5:4]  ⁵ tn Grk “to men.” If Peter’s remark refers only to the apostles, the translation “to men” would be appropriate. But if (as is likely) the action was taken to impress the entire congregation (who would presumably have witnessed the donation or been aware of it) then the more general “to people” is more appropriate, since the audience would have included both men and women.

[17:23]  ⁶ tn Or “your sanctuaries.” L&N 53.54 gives “sanctuary” (place of worship) as an alternate meaning for the word σεβάσματα (sebasmata).

[17:23]  ⁷ tn Grk “on which was written,” but since it would have been carved in stone, it is more common to speak of an “inscription” in English. To simplify the English the relative construction with a passive verb (“on which was inscribed”) was translated as a prepositional phrase with a substantive (“inscription”).

[17:23]  ⁸ tn BDAG 13 s.v. ἀγνοέω 1.b has “Abs. ὅ ἀγνοοῦντες εὐσεβεῖτε what you worship without knowing it (on the subject matter Maximus Tyr. 11, 5e: all sorts of philosophers ἴσασιν οὐκ ἑκόντες καὶ λέγουσιν ἄκοντες sc. τὸ θεῖον = they know and name God without intending to do so) Ac 17:23.” Paul, in typical Jewish Christian style, informs them of the true God, of whom their idols are an ignorant reflection.

[24:14]  ¹¹ tn Or “serve.”

[24:14]  ¹² tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[24:14]  ¹³ sn That is, the law of Moses. Paul was claiming that he legitimately worshiped the God of Israel. He was arguing that this amounted to a religious dispute rather than a political one, so that the Roman authorities need not concern themselves with it.

[26:29]  ¹⁶ tn BDAG 703 s.v. ὀλίγος 2.b.β has “καὶ ἐν ὀλ. καὶ ἐν μεγάλῳ whether in a short or a long time vs. 29 (cf. B-D-F §195; GWhitaker, The Words of Agrippa to St. Paul: JTS 15, 1914, 82f; AFridrichsen, SymbOsl 14, ’35, 50; Field, Notes 141-43; s. Rob. 653).”

[26:29]  ¹⁷ sn Except for these chains. The chains represented Paul’s unjust suffering for the sake of the message. His point was, in effect, “I do not care how long it takes. I only hope you and everyone else hearing this would become believers in Christ, but without my unjust suffering.”

[28:15]  ²¹ sn Mention of Christian brothers from there (Rome) shows that God’s message had already spread as far as Italy and the capital of the empire.

[28:15]  ²² sn The Forum of Appius was a small traveler’s stop on the Appian Way about 43 mi (71 km) south of Rome (BDAG 125 s.v. ᾿Αππίου φόρον). It was described by Horace as “crammed with boatmen and stingy tavernkeepers” (Satires 1.5.3).

[28:15]  ²³ sn Three Taverns was a stop on the Appian Way 33 mi (55 km) south of Rome.

[28:15]  ²⁴ tn Grk “whom, when he saw [them], Paul.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“whom”) was replaced by the personal pronoun (“them”) and a new sentence begun here in the translation.