Acts 6:1

The Appointment of the First Seven Deacons

6:1 Now in those ¹  days, when the disciples were growing in number, ²  a complaint arose on the part of the Greek-speaking Jews ³  against the native Hebraic Jews, ⁴  because their widows ⁵  were being overlooked ⁶  in the daily distribution of food. ⁷ 

Acts 6:7

6:7 The word of God continued to spread, ⁸  the number of disciples in Jerusalem ⁹  increased greatly, and a large group ¹⁰  of priests became obedient to the faith.

Acts 9:10

9:10 Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The ¹¹  Lord ¹²  said to him in a vision, “Ananias,” and he replied, “Here I am, ¹³  Lord.”

Acts 9:38

9:38 Because Lydda ¹⁴  was near Joppa, when the disciples heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Come to us without delay.” ¹⁵ 

Acts 11:26

11:26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. ¹⁶  So ¹⁷  for a whole year Barnabas and Saul ¹⁸  met with the church and taught a significant number of people. ¹⁹  Now it was in Antioch ²⁰  that the disciples were first called Christians. ²¹ 

Acts 18:27

18:27 When Apollos ²²  wanted to cross over to Achaia, ²³  the brothers encouraged ²⁴  him ²⁵  and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he ²⁶  assisted greatly those who had believed by grace,

Acts 19:9

19:9 But when ²⁷  some were stubborn ²⁸  and refused to believe, reviling ²⁹  the Way ³⁰  before the congregation, he left ³¹  them and took the disciples with him, ³²  addressing ³³  them every day ³⁴  in the lecture hall ³⁵  of Tyrannus.

[6:1]  ¹ tn Grk “these.” The translation uses “those” for stylistic reasons.

[6:1]  ² tn Grk “were multiplying.”

[6:1]  ³ tn Grk “the Hellenists,” but this descriptive term is largely unknown to the modern English reader. The translation “Greek-speaking Jews” attempts to convey something of who these were, but it was more than a matter of language spoken; it involved a degree of adoption of Greek culture as well.

[6:1]  ⁴ tn Grk “against the Hebrews,” but as with “Hellenists” this needs further explanation for the modern reader.

[6:1]  ⁵ sn The care of widows is a major biblical theme: Deut 10:18; 16:11, 14; 24:17, 19-21; 26:12-13; 27:19; Isa 1:17-23; Jer 7:6; Mal 3:5.

[6:1]  ⁶ tn Or “neglected.”

[6:1]  ⁷ tn Grk “in the daily serving.”

[6:7]  ⁸ tn Grk “kept on spreading”; the verb has been translated as a progressive imperfect.

[6:7]  ⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:7]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “a great multitude.”

[9:10]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “And the.” 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.

[9:10]  ¹⁶ sn The Lord is directing all the events leading to the expansion of the gospel as he works on both sides of the meeting between Paul and Ananias. “The Lord” here refers to Jesus (see v. 17).

[9:10]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “behold, I,” but this construction often means “here is/there is” (cf. BDAG 468 s.v. ἰδού 2).

[9:38]  ²² sn Lydda was a city northwest of Jerusalem on the way to Joppa.

[9:38]  ²³ tn Grk “Do not delay to come to us.” It is somewhat smoother to say in English, “Come to us without delay.”

[11:26]  ²⁹ sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). See the note in 11:19.

[11:26]  ³⁰ tn Grk “So it happened that” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[11:26]  ³¹ tn Grk “year they”; the referents (Barnabas and Saul) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:26]  ³² tn Grk “a significant crowd.”

[11:26]  ³³ sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). See the note in 11:19.

[11:26]  ³⁴ sn The term Christians appears only here, in Acts 26:28, and 1 Pet 4:16 in the NT.

[18:27]  ³⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Apollos) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:27]  ³⁷ sn To cross over to Achaia. Achaia was organized by the Romans as a separate province in 27 b.c. and was located across the Aegean Sea from Ephesus. The city of Corinth was in Achaia.

[18:27]  ³⁸ tn Grk “encouraging [him], the brothers wrote.” The participle προτρεψάμενοι (protreyamenoi) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. This was the typical letter of commendation from the Ephesians to the Achaeans.

[18:27]  ³⁹ tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[18:27]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “who, when he arrived.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“who”) was replaced with the pronoun “he” and a new sentence begun in the translation.

[19:9]  ⁴³ tn BDAG 1105-6 s.v. ὡς 8.b lists this use as a temporal conjunction.

[19:9]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “some became hardened.” See BDAG 930 s.v. σκληρύνω b and Acts 7:51-53.

[19:9]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “speaking evil of.” BDAG 500 s.v. κακολογέω has “speak evil of, revile, insult…τὶ someth. τὴν ὁδόν the Way (i.e. Christian way of life) Ac 19:9.”

[19:9]  ⁴⁶ sn The Way refers to the Christian movement (Christianity). Luke frequently refers to it as “the Way” (Acts 9:2; 18:25-26; 19:23; 22:4; 24:14, 22).

[19:9]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “leaving them, he took.” The participle ἀποστάς (apostas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[19:9]  ⁴⁸ tn The words “with him” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[19:9]  ⁴⁹ tn Although the word διελέξατο (dielexato; from διαλέγομαι, dialegomai) is frequently translated “reasoned,” “disputed,” or “argued,” this sense comes from its classical meaning where it was used of philosophical disputation, including the Socratic method of questions and answers. However, there does not seem to be contextual evidence for this kind of debate in Acts 19:9. As G. Schrenk (TDNT 2:94-95) points out, “What is at issue is the address which any qualified member of a synagogue might give.” Other examples of this may be found in the NT in Matt 4:23 and Mark 1:21.

[19:9]  ⁵⁰ tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase in this verse.

[19:9]  ⁵¹ tn The “lecture hall” was a place where teachers and pupils met. The term is a NT hapax legomenon (BDAG 982 s.v. σχολή). L&N 7.14 notes, “it is better to use a translation such as ‘lecture hall’ rather than ‘school,’ since one does not wish to give the impression of the typical classroom situation characteristic of present-day schools.”