Acts 7:38

7:38 This is the man who was in the congregation ¹  in the wilderness ²  with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors, ³  and he ⁴  received living oracles ⁵  to give to you. ⁶ 

Acts 10:4

10:4 Staring at him and becoming greatly afraid, Cornelius ⁷  replied, ⁸  “What is it, Lord?” The angel ⁹  said to him, “Your prayers and your acts of charity ¹⁰  have gone up as a memorial ¹¹  before God.

Acts 12:11

12:11 When ¹²  Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued ¹³  me from the hand ¹⁴  of Herod ¹⁵  and from everything the Jewish people ¹⁶  were expecting to happen.”

Acts 16:27

16:27 When the jailer woke up ¹⁷  and saw the doors of the prison standing open, ¹⁸  he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, ¹⁹  because he assumed ²⁰  the prisoners had escaped.

Acts 24:25

24:25 While Paul ²¹  was discussing ²²  righteousness, self-control, ²³  and the coming judgment, Felix ²⁴  became ²⁵  frightened and said, “Go away for now, and when I have an opportunity, ²⁶  I will send for you.”

[7:38]  ¹ tn This term, ἐκκλησία (ekklhsia), is a secular use of the term that came to mean “church” in the epistles. Here a reference to an assembly is all that is intended.

[7:38]  ² tn Or “desert.”

[7:38]  ³ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:38]  ⁴ tn Grk “fathers, who.” The relative pronoun was replaced by the pronoun “he” and a new clause introduced by “and” was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style.

[7:38]  ⁵ tn Or “messages.” This is an allusion to the law given to Moses.

[7:38]  ⁶ tc ‡ The first person pronoun ἡμῖν (Jhmin, “to us”) is read by A C D E Ψ 33 1739 Ï lat sy, while the second person pronoun ὑμῖν (Jumin, “to you”) is read by Ì⁷⁴ א B 36 453 al co. The second person pronoun thus has significantly better external support. As well, ὑμῖν is a harder reading in this context, both because it is surrounded by first person pronouns and because Stephen perhaps “does not wish to disassociate himself from those who received God’s revelation in the past, but only from those who misinterpreted and disobeyed that revelation” (TCGNT 307). At the same time, Stephen does associate himself to some degree with his disobedient ancestors in v. 39, suggesting that the decisive break does not really come until v. 51 (where both his present audience and their ancestors are viewed as rebellious). Thus, both externally and internally ὑμῖν is the preferred reading.

[10:4]  ⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Cornelius) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:4]  ⁸ tn Grk “said,” but in response to the angel’s address, “replied” is better English style.

[10:4]  ⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:4]  ¹⁰ tn Or “your gifts to the needy.”

[10:4]  ¹¹ sn The language used in the expression gone up as a memorial before God parallels what one would say of acceptable sacrifices (Ps 141:2; Sir 35:6; 50:16).

[12:11]  ¹³ tn Grk “And when.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[12:11]  ¹⁴ tn Or “delivered.”

[12:11]  ¹⁵ sn Here the hand of Herod is a metaphor for Herod’s power or control.

[12:11]  ¹⁶ sn King Herod was Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod I (Herod the Great).

[12:11]  ¹⁷ sn Luke characterizes the opposition here as the Jewish people, including their leadership (see 12:3).

[16:27]  ¹⁹ tn L&N 23.75 has “had awakened” here. It is more in keeping with contemporary English style, however, to keep the two verbal ideas parallel in terms of tense (“when the jailer woke up and saw”) although logically the second action is subsequent to the first.

[16:27]  ²⁰ tn The additional semantic component “standing” is supplied (“standing open”) to convey a stative nuance in English.

[16:27]  ²¹ sn Was about to kill himself. The jailer’s penalty for failing to guard the prisoners would have been death, so he contemplated saving the leaders the trouble (see Acts 12:19; 27:42).

[16:27]  ²² tn Or “thought.”

[24:25]  ²⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:25]  ²⁶ tn Or “speaking about.”

[24:25]  ²⁷ tn Grk “and self-control.” This 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.

[24:25]  ²⁸ sn See the note on Felix in 23:26.

[24:25]  ²⁹ tn Grk “becoming.” The participle γενόμενος (genomenos) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[24:25]  ³⁰ tn Or “when I find time.” BDAG 639 s.v. μεταλαμβάνω 2 has “καιρὸν μ. have an opportunity = find time…Ac 24:25.”