Acts 7:20

7:20 At that time Moses was born, and he was beautiful ¹  to God. For ²  three months he was brought up in his father’s house,

Acts 7:29

7:29 When the man said this, ³  Moses fled and became a foreigner ⁴  in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

Acts 7:32

7:32 ‘I am the God of your forefathers, ⁵  the God of Abraham, Isaac, ⁶  and Jacob.’ ⁷  Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look more closely. ⁸ 

Acts 7:37

7:37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ⁹  ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’ ¹⁰ 

Acts 13:39

13:39 and by this one ¹¹  everyone who believes is justified ¹²  from everything from which the law of Moses could not justify ¹³  you. ¹⁴ 

Acts 15:1

The Jerusalem Council

15:1 Now some men came down from Judea ¹⁵  and began to teach the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised ¹⁶  according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

Acts 15:5

15:5 But some from the religious party of the Pharisees ¹⁷  who had believed stood up and said, “It is necessary ¹⁸  to circumcise the Gentiles ¹⁹  and to order them to observe ²⁰  the law of Moses.”

Acts 15:21

15:21 For Moses has had those who proclaim him in every town from ancient times, ²¹  because he is read aloud ²²  in the synagogues ²³  every Sabbath.”

[7:20]  ¹ tn Or “was well-formed before God,” or “was well-pleasing to God” (BDAG 145 s.v. ἀστεῖος suggests the meaning is more like “well-bred” as far as God was concerned; see Exod 2:2).

[7:20]  ² tn Grk “who was brought up for three months.” The continuation of the sentence as a relative clause is awkward in English, so a new sentence was started in the translation by changing the relative pronoun to a regular pronoun (“he”).

[7:29]  ³ tn Grk “At this word,” which could be translated either “when the man said this” or “when Moses heard this.” Since λόγος (logos) refers to the remark made by the Israelite, this translation has followed the first option.

[7:29]  ⁴ tn Or “resident alien.” Traditionally πάροικος (paroiko") has been translated “stranger” or “alien,” but the level of specificity employed with “foreigner” or “resident alien” is now necessary in contemporary English because a “stranger” is a person not acquainted with someone, while an “alien” can suggest science fiction imagery.

[7:32]  ⁵ tn Or “ancestors”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:32]  ⁶ tn Grk “and Isaac,” 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.

[7:32]  ⁷ sn A quotation from Exod 3:6. The phrase suggests the God of promise, the God of the nation.

[7:32]  ⁸ tn Or “to investigate,” “to contemplate” (BDAG 522 s.v. κατανοέω 2).

[7:37]  ⁷ tn Grk “to the sons of Israel.”

[7:37]  ⁸ sn A quotation from Deut 18:15. This quotation sets up Jesus as the “leader-prophet” like Moses (Acts 3:22; Luke 9:35).

[13:39]  ⁹ sn This one refers here to Jesus.

[13:39]  ¹⁰ tn Or “is freed.” The translation of δικαιωθῆναι (dikaiwqhnai) and δικαιοῦται (dikaioutai) in Acts 13:38-39 is difficult. BDAG 249 s.v. δικαιόω 3 categorizes δικαιωθῆναι in 13:38 (Greek text) under the meaning “make free/pure” but categorizes δικαιοῦται in Acts 13:39 as “be found in the right, be free of charges” (BDAG 249 s.v. δικαιόω 2.b.β). In the interest of consistency both verbs are rendered as “justified” in this translation.

[13:39]  ¹¹ tn Or “could not free.”

[13:39]  ¹² tn Grk “from everything from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.” The passive construction has been converted to an active one in the translation, with “by the law of Moses” becoming the subject of the final clause. The words “from everything from which the law of Moses could not justify you” are part of v. 38 in the Greek text, but due to English style and word order must be placed in v. 39 in the translation.

[15:1]  ¹¹ sn That is, they came down from Judea to Antioch in Syria.

[15:1]  ¹² tc Codex Bezae (D) and a few other witnesses have “and walk” here (i.e., instead of τῷ ἔθει τῷ Μωϋσέως [tw eqei tw Mwu>sew"] they read καὶ τῷ ἔθει τῷ Μωϋσέως περιπατῆτε [kai tw eqei tw Mwu>sew" peripathte]). This is a decidedly stronger focus on obedience to the Law. As well, D expands vv. 1-5 in various places with the overall effect of being “more sympathetic to the local tradition of the church at Jerusalem” while the Alexandrian witnesses are more sympathetic to Paul (TCGNT 377). Codex D is well known for having a significantly longer text in Acts, but modern scholarship is generally of the opinion that the text of D expands on the original wording of Acts, with a theological viewpoint that especially puts Peter in a more authoritarian light. The expansion in these five verses is in keeping with that motif even though Peter is not explicitly in view.

[15:5]  ¹³ sn See the note on Pharisee in 5:34.

[15:5]  ¹⁴ sn The Greek word used here (δεῖ, dei) is a strong term that expresses divine necessity. The claim is that God commanded the circumcision of Gentiles.

[15:5]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “them”; the referent (the Gentiles) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:5]  ¹⁶ tn Or “keep.”

[15:21]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “from generations of old”; the translation “fr. ancient times” is given by BDAG 192 s.v. γενεά 3.b.

[15:21]  ¹⁶ tn The translation “read aloud” is used to indicate the actual practice; translating as “read” could be misunderstood to mean private, silent reading.

[15:21]  ¹⁷ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.