Acts 6:12

6:12 They incited the people, the ¹  elders, and the experts in the law; ²  then they approached Stephen, ³  seized him, and brought him before the council. ⁴ 

Acts 14:23

14:23 When they had appointed elders ⁵  for them in the various churches, ⁶  with prayer and fasting ⁷  they entrusted them to the protection ⁸  of the Lord in whom they had believed.

Acts 15:4

15:4 When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were received ⁹  by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported ¹⁰  all the things God had done with them. ¹¹ 

Acts 16:4

16:4 As they went through the towns, ¹²  they passed on ¹³  the decrees that had been decided on by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem ¹⁴  for the Gentile believers ¹⁵  to obey. ¹⁶ 

Acts 16:22

16:22 The crowd joined the attack ¹⁷  against them, and the magistrates tore the clothes ¹⁸  off Paul and Silas ¹⁹  and ordered them to be beaten with rods. ²⁰ 

Acts 19:31

19:31 Even some of the provincial authorities ²¹  who were his friends sent ²²  a message ²³  to him, urging him not to venture ²⁴  into the theater.

Acts 23:14

23:14 They ²⁵  went ²⁶  to the chief priests ²⁷  and the elders and said, “We have bound ourselves with a solemn oath ²⁸  not to partake ²⁹  of anything until we have killed Paul.

Acts 24:1

The Accusations Against Paul

24:1 After five days the high priest Ananias ³⁰  came down with some elders and an attorney ³¹  named ³²  Tertullus, and they ³³  brought formal charges ³⁴  against Paul to the governor.

Acts 25:15

25:15 When I was in Jerusalem, ³⁵  the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed ³⁶  me about him, ³⁷  asking for a sentence of condemnation ³⁸  against him.

[6:12]  ¹ tn Grk “and the,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[6:12]  ² tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 4:5.

[6:12]  ³ tn Grk “approaching, they seized him”; the referent (Stephen) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:12]  ⁴ tn Or “the Sanhedrin” (the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews). Stephen suffers just as Peter and John did.

[14:23]  ⁵ sn Appointed elders. See Acts 20:17.

[14:23]  ⁶ tn The preposition κατά (kata) is used here in a distributive sense; see BDAG 512 s.v. κατά B.1.d.

[14:23]  ⁷ tn Literally with a finite verb (προσευξάμενοι, proseuxamenoi) rather than a noun, “praying with fasting,” but the combination “prayer and fasting” is so familiar in English that it is preferable to use it here.

[14:23]  ⁸ tn BDAG 772 s.v. παρατίθημι 3.b has “entrust someone to the care or protection of someone” for this phrase. The reference to persecution or suffering in the context (v. 22) suggests “protection” is a better translation here. This looks at God’s ultimate care for the church.

[15:4]  ⁹ tn BDAG 761 s.v. παραδέχομαι 2 has “receive, accept” for the meaning here.

[15:4]  ¹⁰ tn Or “announced.”

[15:4]  ¹¹ tn “They reported all the things God had done with them” – an identical phrase occurs in Acts 14:27. God is always the agent.

[16:4]  ¹³ tn Or “cities.”

[16:4]  ¹⁴ tn BDAG 762-63 s.v. παραδίδωμι 3 has “they handed down to them the decisions to observe Ac 16:4.”

[16:4]  ¹⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[16:4]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “for them”; the referent (Gentile believers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:4]  ¹⁷ tn Or “observe” or “follow.”

[16:22]  ¹⁷ tn L&N 39.50 has “the crowd joined the attack against them” for συνεπέστη (sunepesth) in this verse.

[16:22]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “tearing the clothes off them, the magistrates ordered.” The participle περιρήξαντες (perirhxante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. Although it may be possible to understand the aorist active participle περιρήξαντες in a causative sense (“the magistrates caused the clothes to be torn off Paul and Silas”) in the mob scene that was taking place, it is also possible that the magistrates themselves actively participated. This act was done to prepare them for a public flogging (2 Cor 11:25; 1 Thess 2:2).

[16:22]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “off them”; the referents (Paul and Silas) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:22]  ²⁰ tn The infinitive ῥαβδίζειν (rJabdizein) means “to beat with rods or sticks” (as opposed to fists or clubs, BDAG 902 s.v. ῥαβδίζω).

[19:31]  ²¹ tn Grk “Asiarchs” (high-ranking officials of the province of Asia).

[19:31]  ²² tn Grk “sending”; the participle πέμψαντες (pemyante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[19:31]  ²³ tn The words “a message” are not in the Greek text but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[19:31]  ²⁴ tn BDAG 242-43 s.v. δίδωμι 11 has “to cause (oneself) to go, go, venture somewhere (cp. our older ‘betake oneself’)…Ac 19:31.” The desire of these sympathetic authorities was surely to protect Paul’s life. The detail indicates how dangerous things had become.

[23:14]  ²⁵ tn Grk “who.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“whom”) was translated by the third person plural pronoun (“them”) and a new sentence begun in the translation.

[23:14]  ²⁶ tn Grk “going.” The participle προσελθόντες (proselqonte") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[23:14]  ²⁷ sn They went to the chief priests. The fact that the high priest knew of this plot and did nothing shows the Jewish leadership would even become accomplices to murder to stop Paul. They would not allow Roman justice to take its course. Paul’s charge in v. 3 of superficially following the law is thus shown to be true.

[23:14]  ²⁸ tn Or “bound ourselves under a curse.” BDAG 63 s.v. ἀναθεματίζω 1 has “trans. put under a curse τινά someone…pleonastically ἀναθέματι ἀ. ἑαυτόν Ac 23:14…ἀ. ἑαυτόν vss. 12, 21, 13 v.l.” The pleonastic use ἀναθέματι ἀνεθεματίσαμεν (literally “we have cursed ourselves with a curse”) probably serves as an intensifier following Semitic usage, and is represented in the translation by the word “solemn.” On such oaths see m. Nedarim 3:1, 3.

[23:14]  ²⁹ tn This included both food and drink (γεύομαι [geuomai] is used of water turned to wine in John 2:9).

[24:1]  ²⁹ sn Ananias was in office from a.d. 47-59.

[24:1]  ³⁰ tn The term refers to a professional advocate (BDAG 905 s.v. ῥήτωρ).

[24:1]  ³¹ tn Grk “an attorney, a certain Tertullus.”

[24:1]  ³² tn Grk “who” (plural). Because in English the relative pronoun “who” could be understood to refer only to the attorney Tertullus and not to the entire group, it has been replaced with the third person plural pronoun “they.” “And” has been supplied to provide the connection to the preceding clause.

[24:1]  ³³ tn BDAG 326 s.v. ἐμφανίζω 3 has “ἐ. τινὶ κατά τινος bring formal charges against someone…Ac 24:1; 25:2.”

[25:15]  ³³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[25:15]  ³⁴ tn BDAG 326 s.v. ἐμφανίζω 3 has “to convey a formal report about a judicial matter, present evidence, bring charges…ἐ. περί τινος concerning someone 25:15.”

[25:15]  ³⁵ tn Grk “about whom.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“whom”) has been replaced with a personal pronoun (“him”) and a new sentence started in the translation at the beginning of v. 15 (where the phrase περὶ οὗ [peri Jou] occurs in the Greek text).

[25:15]  ³⁶ tn BDAG 516 s.v. καταδίκη states, “condemnation, sentence of condemnation, conviction, guilty verdict…αἰτεῖσθαι κατά τινος κ. ask for a conviction of someone Ac 25:15.”