Acts 7:46

7:46 He ¹  found favor ²  with ³  God and asked that he could ⁴  find a dwelling place ⁵  for the house ⁶  of Jacob.

Acts 10:31

10:31 and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your acts of charity ⁷  have been remembered before God. ⁸ 

Acts 27:35

27:35 After he said this, Paul ⁹  took bread ¹⁰  and gave thanks to God in front of them all, ¹¹  broke ¹²  it, and began to eat.

[7:46]  ¹ tn Grk “David, who” The relative pronoun was replaced by the pronoun “he” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style.

[7:46]  ² tn Or “grace.”

[7:46]  ³ tn Grk “before,” “in the presence of.”

[7:46]  ⁴ tn The words “that he could” are not in the Greek text, but are implied as the (understood) subject of the infinitive εὑρεῖν (Jeurein). This understands David’s request as asking that he might find the dwelling place. The other possibility would be to supply “that God” as the subject of the infinitive: “and asked that God find a dwelling place.” Unfortunately this problem is complicated by the extremely difficult problem with the Greek text in the following phrase (“house of Jacob” vs. “God of Jacob”).

[7:46]  ⁵ tn On this term see BDAG 929 s.v. σκήνωμα a (Ps 132:5).

[7:46]  ⁶ tc Some mss read θεῷ (qew, “God”) here, a variant much easier to understand in the context. The reading “God” is supported by א² A C E Ψ 33 1739 Ï lat sy co. The more difficult οἴκῳ (oikw, “house”) is supported by Ì⁷⁴ א* B D H 049 pc. Thus the second reading is preferred both externally because of better ms evidence and internally because it is hard to see how a copyist finding the reading “God” would change it to “house,” while it is easy to see how (given the LXX of Ps 132:5) a copyist might assimilate the reading and change “house” to “God.” However, some scholars think the reading “house” is so difficult as to be unacceptable. Others (like Lachmann and Hort) resorted to conjectural emendation at this point. Others (Ropes) sought an answer in an underlying Aramaic expression. Not everyone thinks the reading “house” is too difficult to be accepted as original (see Lake and Cadbury). A. F. J. Klijn, “Stephen’s Speech – Acts vii.2-53,” NTS 4 (1957): 25-31, compared the idea of a “house within the house of Israel” with the Manual of Discipline from Qumran, a possible parallel that seems to support the reading “house” as authentic. (For the more detailed discussion from which this note was derived, see TCGNT 308-9.)

[10:31]  ⁷ tn Or “your gifts to the needy.”

[10:31]  ⁸ sn This statement is a paraphrase rather than an exact quotation of Acts 10:4.

[27:35]  ¹³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:35]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “taking bread, gave thanks.” The participle λαβών (labwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[27:35]  ¹⁵ tn Or “before them all,” but here this could be misunderstood to indicate a temporal sequence.

[27:35]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “and breaking it, he began.” The participle κλάσας (klasas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.