Acts 7:26

7:26 The next day Moses ¹  saw two men ²  fighting, and tried to make peace between ³  them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why are you hurting one another?’

Acts 28:4

28:4 When the local people ⁴  saw the creature hanging from Paul’s ⁵  hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer! Although he has escaped from the sea, Justice herself ⁶  has not allowed him to live!” ⁷ 

[7:26]  ¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:26]  ² tn Grk “saw them”; the context makes clear that two individuals were involved (v. 27).

[7:26]  ³ tn Or “tried to reconcile” (BDAG 964-65 s.v. συναλλάσσω).

[28:4]  ⁴ tn Although this is literally βάρβαροι (barbaroi; “foreigners, barbarians”) used for non-Greek or non-Romans, as BDAG 166 s.v. βάρβαρος 2.b notes, “Of the inhabitants of Malta, who apparently spoke in their native language Ac 28:2, 4 (here β. certainly without derogatory tone…).”

[28:4]  ⁵ tn Grk “his”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:4]  ⁶ tn That is, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live. BDAG 250 s.v. δίκη 2 states, “Justice personified as a deity Ac 28:4”; L&N 12.27, “a goddess who personifies justice in seeking out and punishing the guilty – ‘the goddess Justice.’ ἡ δίκη ζῆν οὐκ εἴασεν ‘the goddess Justice would not let him live’ Ac 28:4.” Although a number of modern English translations have rendered δίκη (dikh) “justice,” preferring to use an abstraction, in the original setting it is almost certainly a reference to a pagan deity. In the translation, the noun “justice” was capitalized and the reflexive pronoun “herself” was supplied to make the personification clear. This was considered preferable to supplying a word like ‘goddess’ in connection with δίκη.

[28:4]  ⁷ sn The entire scene is played out initially as a kind of oracle from the gods resulting in the judgment of a guilty person (Justice herself has not allowed him to live). Paul’s survival of this incident without ill effects thus spoke volumes about his innocence.