Acts 5:40

5:40 and they summoned the apostles and had them beaten. ¹  Then ²  they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and released them.

Acts 17:4

17:4 Some of them were persuaded ³  and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large group ⁴  of God-fearing Greeks ⁵  and quite a few ⁶  prominent women.

[5:40]  ¹ sn Had them beaten. The punishment was the “forty lashes minus one,” see also Acts 22:19; 2 Cor 11:24; Mark 13:9. The apostles had disobeyed the religious authorities and took their punishment for their “disobedience” (Deut 25:2-3; m. Makkot 3:10-14). In Acts 4:18 they were warned. Now they are beaten. The hostility is rising as the narrative unfolds.

[5:40]  ² tn The word “Then” is supplied as the beginning of a new sentence in the translation. The construction in Greek has so many clauses (most of them made up of participles) that a continuous English sentence would be very awkward.

[17:4]  ³ tn Or “convinced.”

[17:4]  ⁴ tn Or “a large crowd.”

[17:4]  ⁵ tn Or “of devout Greeks,” but this is practically a technical term for the category called God-fearers, Gentiles who worshiped the God of Israel and in many cases kept the Mosaic law, but did not take the final step of circumcision necessary to become a proselyte to Judaism. See further K. G. Kuhn, TDNT 6:732-34, 743-44. Luke frequently mentions such people (Acts 13:43, 50; 16:14; 17:17; 18:7).

[17:4]  ⁶ 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).