Acts 7:11

7:11 Then a famine occurred throughout ¹  Egypt and Canaan, causing ²  great suffering, and our ³  ancestors ⁴  could not find food.

Acts 8:40

8:40 Philip, however, found himself ⁵  at Azotus, ⁶  and as he passed through the area, ⁷  he proclaimed the good news ⁸  to all the towns ⁹  until he came to Caesarea. ¹⁰ 

Acts 12:19

12:19 When Herod ¹¹  had searched ¹²  for him and did not find him, he questioned ¹³  the guards and commanded that they be led away to execution. ¹⁴  Then ¹⁵  Herod ¹⁶  went down from Judea to Caesarea ¹⁷  and stayed there.

Acts 17:6

17:6 When they did not find them, they dragged ¹⁸  Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, ¹⁹  screaming, “These people who have stirred up trouble ²⁰  throughout the world ²¹  have come here too,

Acts 17:27

17:27 so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around ²²  for him and find him, ²³  though he is ²⁴  not far from each one of us.

Acts 19:1

Disciples of John the Baptist at Ephesus

19:1 While ²⁵  Apollos was in Corinth, ²⁶  Paul went through the inland ²⁷  regions ²⁸  and came to Ephesus. ²⁹  He ³⁰  found some disciples there ³¹ 

Acts 24:5

24:5 For we have found ³²  this man to be a troublemaker, ³³  one who stirs up riots ³⁴  among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader ³⁵  of the sect of the Nazarenes. ³⁶ 

Acts 24:12

24:12 They did not find me arguing ³⁷  with anyone or stirring up a crowd ³⁸  in the temple courts ³⁹  or in the synagogues ⁴⁰  or throughout the city, ⁴¹ 

Acts 24:18

24:18 which I was doing when they found me in the temple, ritually purified, ⁴²  without a crowd or a disturbance. ⁴³ 

[7:11]  ¹ tn Grk “came upon all Egypt.”

[7:11]  ² tn Grk “and,” but logically causal.

[7:11]  ³ sn Our. Stephen spoke of “our” ancestors (Grk “fathers”) in an inclusive sense throughout the speech until his rebuke in v. 51, where the nation does what “your” ancestors did, at which point an exclusive pronoun is used. This serves to emphasize the rebuke.

[7:11]  ⁴ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[8:40]  ⁵ tn Or “appeared.”

[8:40]  ⁶ sn Azotus was a city on the coast of southern Palestine, known as Ashdod in OT times.

[8:40]  ⁷ tn The words “the area” are not in the Greek text but are implied.

[8:40]  ⁸ tn Or “he preached the gospel.”

[8:40]  ⁹ tn Or “cities.”

[8:40]  ¹⁰ 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.

[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.

[17:6]  ¹³ tn See BDAG 977-78 s.v. σύρω on this verb. It was used in everyday speech of dragging in fish by a net, or dragging away someone’s (presumably) dead body (Paul in Acts 14:19).

[17:6]  ¹⁴ tn L&N 37.93 defines πολιτάρχης (politarch") as “a public official responsible for administrative matters within a town or city and a member of the ruling council of such a political unit – ‘city official’” (see also BDAG 845 s.v.).

[17:6]  ¹⁵ tn Or “rebellion.” BDAG 72 s.v. ἀναστατόω has “disturb, trouble, upset,” but in light of the references in the following verse to political insurrection, “stirred up rebellion” would also be appropriate.

[17:6]  ¹⁶ tn Or “the empire.” This was a way of referring to the Roman empire (BDAG 699 s.v. οἰκουμένη 2.b).

[17:27]  ¹⁷ tn See BDAG 1097-98 s.v. ψηλαφάω, which lists “touch, handle” and “to feel around for, grope for” as possible meanings.

[17:27]  ¹⁸ sn Perhaps grope around for him and find him. The pagans’ struggle to know God is the point here. Conscience alone is not good enough.

[17:27]  ¹⁹ tn The participle ὑπάρχοντα (Juparconta) has been translated as a concessive adverbial participle.

[19:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “It happened that while.” 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.

[19:1]  ²² map For location see JP1 C2; JP2 C2; JP3 C2; JP4 C2.

[19:1]  ²³ tn Or “interior.”

[19:1]  ²⁴ tn BDAG 92 s.v. ἀνωτερικός has “upper τὰ ἀ. μέρη the upper (i.e. inland) country, the interior Ac 19:1.”

[19:1]  ²⁵ map For location see JP1 D2; JP2 D2; JP3 D2; JP4 D2.

[19:1]  ²⁶ tn Grk “and found.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the sequencing with the following verse the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.

[19:1]  ²⁷ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text but is implied.

[24:5]  ²⁵ tn Grk “For having found.” The participle εὑρόντες (Jeurontes) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[24:5]  ²⁶ tn L&N 22.6 has “(a figurative extension of meaning of λοιμός ‘plague,’ 23.158) one who causes all sorts of trouble – ‘troublemaker, pest.’ … ‘for we have found this man to be a troublemaker” Ac 24:5.”

[24:5]  ²⁷ tn Or “dissensions.” While BDAG 940 s.v. στάσις 3 translates this phrase “κινεῖν στάσεις (v.l. στάσιν) τισί create dissension among certain people Ac 24:5,” it is better on the basis of the actual results of Paul’s ministry to categorize this usage under section 2, “uprising, riot, revolt, rebellion” (cf. the use in Acts 19:40).

[24:5]  ²⁸ tn This term is yet another NT hapax legomenon (BDAG 894 s.v. πρωτοστάτης).

[24:5]  ²⁹ sn The sect of the Nazarenes is a designation for followers of Jesus the Nazarene, that is, Christians.

[24:12]  ²⁹ tn Or “disputing,” “conducting a heated discussion.”

[24:12]  ³⁰ tn BDAG 381 s.v. ἐπίστασις 2 has “ἐ. ποιεῖν ὄχλου to cause a crowd to gather Ac 24:12.” Roman authorities would not allow a mob to gather and threaten the peace, and anyone suspected of instigating a mob would certainly be arrested.

[24:12]  ³¹ tn Grk “in the temple.” This is actually a reference to the courts surrounding the temple proper, and has been translated accordingly.

[24:12]  ³² sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[24:12]  ³³ sn A second part of Paul’s defense is that he did nothing while he was in Jerusalem to cause unrest, neither arguing nor stirring up a crowd in the temple courts or in the synagogues or throughout the city.

[24:18]  ³³ sn Ritually purified. Paul’s claim here is that he was honoring the holiness of God by being sensitive to issues of ritual purity. Not only was he not guilty of the charges against him, but he was thoroughly devout.

[24:18]  ³⁴ tn BDAG 458 s.v. θόρυβος 3.b has “μετὰ θορύβου…with a disturbance Ac 24:18.”