Acts 7:21

7:21 and when he had been abandoned, ¹  Pharaoh’s daughter adopted ²  him and brought him up ³  as her own son.

Acts 9:1

The Conversion of Saul

9:1 Meanwhile Saul, still breathing out threats ⁴  to murder ⁵  the Lord’s disciples, went to the high priest

Acts 15:14

15:14 Simeon ⁶  has explained ⁷  how God first concerned himself ⁸  to select ⁹  from among the Gentiles ¹⁰  a people for his name.

Acts 15:40

15:40 but Paul chose Silas and set out, commended ¹¹  to the grace of the Lord by the brothers and sisters. ¹² 

Acts 16:11

Arrival at Philippi

16:11 We put out to sea ¹³  from Troas ¹⁴  and sailed a straight course ¹⁵  to Samothrace, ¹⁶  the next day to Neapolis, ¹⁷ 

Acts 19:8

Paul Continues to Minister at Ephesus

19:8 So Paul ¹⁸  entered ¹⁹  the synagogue ²⁰  and spoke out fearlessly ²¹  for three months, addressing ²²  and convincing ²³  them about the kingdom of God. ²⁴ 

Acts 26:25

26:25 But Paul replied, ²⁵  “I have not lost my mind, most excellent Festus, ²⁶  but am speaking ²⁷  true and rational ²⁸  words.

Acts 27:19

27:19 and on the third day they threw the ship’s gear ²⁹  overboard with their own hands.

[7:21]  ¹ tn Or “exposed” (see v. 19).

[7:21]  ² tn Grk “Pharaoh’s daughter took him up for herself.” According to BDAG 64 s.v. ἀναιρέω, “The pap. exx. involve exposed children taken up and reared as slaves…The rendering ‘adopt’ lacks philological precision and can be used only in a loose sense (as NRSV), esp. when Gr-Rom. terminology relating to adoption procedures is taken into account.” In this instance both the immediate context and the OT account (Exod 2:3-10) do support the normal sense of the English word “adopt,” although it should not be understood to refer to a technical, legal event.

[7:21]  ³ tn Or “and reared him” (BDAG 74 s.v. ἀνατρέφω b).

[9:1]  ⁴ tn Or “Saul, making dire threats.”

[9:1]  ⁵ tn The expression “breathing out threats and murder” is an idiomatic expression for “making threats to murder” (see L&N 33.293). Although the two terms “threats” and “murder” are syntactically coordinate, the second is semantically subordinate to the first. In other words, the content of the threats is to murder the disciples.

[15:14]  ⁷ sn Simeon is a form of the apostle Peter’s Aramaic name. James uses Peter’s “Jewish” name here.

[15:14]  ⁸ tn Or “reported,” “described.”

[15:14]  ⁹ tn BDAG 378 s.v. ἐπισκέπτομαι 3 translates this phrase in Acts 15:14, “God concerned himself about winning a people fr. among the nations.”

[15:14]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “to take,” but in the sense of selecting or choosing (accompanied by the preposition ἐκ [ek] plus a genitive specifying the group selected from) see Heb 5:1; also BDAG 584 s.v. λαμβάνω 6.

[15:14]  ¹¹ sn In the Greek text the expression “from among the Gentiles” is in emphatic position.

[15:40]  ¹⁰ tn Or “committed.” BDAG 762 s.v. παραδίδωμι 2 gives “be commended by someone to the grace of the Lord” as the meaning for this phrase, although “give over” and “commit” are listed as alternatives for this category.

[15:40]  ¹¹ tn Grk “by the brothers.” Here it it is highly probable that the entire congregation is in view, not just men, so the translation “brothers and sisters” has been used for the plural ἀδελφῶν (adelfwn),.

[16:11]  ¹³ tn BDAG 62 s.v. ἀνάγω 4, “as a nautical t.t. (ἀ. τὴν ναῦν put a ship to sea), mid. or pass. ἀνάγεσθαι to begin to go by boat, put out to sea.”

[16:11]  ¹⁴ sn Troas was a port city (and surrounding region) on the northwest coast of Asia Minor. See v. 8.

[16:11]  ¹⁵ tn BDAG 406 s.v. εὐθυδρομέω has “of a ship run a straight course” here; L&N 54.3 has “to sail a straight course, sail straight to.”

[16:11]  ¹⁶ sn Samothrace is an island in the northern part of the Aegean Sea.

[16:11]  ¹⁷ sn Neapolis was a seaport on the southern coast of Macedonia. It was 10 mi (16 km) from Philippi.

[19:8]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:8]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “So entering the synagogue, he spoke out fearlessly.” The participle εἰσελθών (eiselqwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[19:8]  ¹⁸ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[19:8]  ¹⁹ tn Or “boldly.”

[19:8]  ²⁰ 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 19:8. 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.

[19:8]  ²¹ tn Or “addressing them persuasively.” The two participles διαλεγόμενος and πείθων (dialegomeno" and peiqwn) can be understood as a hendiadys (so NIV, NRSV), thus, “addressing them persuasively.”

[19:8]  ²² sn To talk about Jesus as the Christ who has come is to talk about the kingdom of God. This is yet another summary of the message like that in 18:28.

[26:25]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “said.”

[26:25]  ²⁰ sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.

[26:25]  ²¹ tn Or “declaring.” BDAG 125 s.v. ἀποφθέγγομαι states, “speak out, declare boldly or loudly…τὶ: σωφροσύνης ῥήματα Ac 26:25.”

[26:25]  ²² tn BDAG 987 s.v. σωφροσύνη 1 has “gener. soundness of mind, reasonableness, rationality…ἀληθείας καὶ σωφροσύνης ῥήματα true and rational words (opp. μαίνομαι) Ac 26:25.”

[27:19]  ²² tn Or “rigging,” “tackle”; Grk “the ship’s things.” Here the more abstract “gear” is preferred to “rigging” or “tackle” as a translation for σκεῦος (skeuos) because in v. 40 the sailors are still able to raise the (fore)sail, which they could not have done if the ship’s rigging or tackle had been jettisoned here.