Acts 7:5

7:5 He ¹  did not give any of it to him for an inheritance, ²  not even a foot of ground, ³  yet God ⁴  promised to give it to him as his possession, and to his descendants after him, ⁵  even though Abraham ⁶  as yet had no child.

Acts 13:22

13:22 After removing him, God ⁷  raised up ⁸  David their king. He testified about him: ⁹  ‘I have found David ¹⁰  the son of Jesse to be a man after my heart, ¹¹  who will accomplish everything I want him to do.’ ¹² 

Acts 15:7

15:7 After there had been much debate, ¹³  Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that some time ago ¹⁴  God chose ¹⁵  me to preach to the Gentiles so they would hear the message ¹⁶  of the gospel ¹⁷  and believe. ¹⁸ 

Acts 27:12

27:12 Because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided ¹⁹  to put out to sea ²⁰  from there. They hoped that ²¹  somehow they could reach ²²  Phoenix, ²³  a harbor of Crete facing ²⁴  southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.

[7:5]  ¹ tn Grk “And he.” 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.

[7:5]  ² tn Grk “He did not give him an inheritance in it.” This could be understood to mean that God did not give something else to Abraham as an inheritance while he was living there. The point of the text is that God did not give any of the land to him as an inheritance, and the translation makes this clear.

[7:5]  ³ tn Grk “a step of a foot” (cf. Deut 2:5).

[7:5]  ⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:5]  ⁵ sn An allusion to Gen 12:7; 13:15; 15:2, 18; 17:8; 24:7; 48:4. On the theological importance of the promise and to his descendants after him, see Rom 4 and Gal 3.

[7:5]  ⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:22]  ⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:22]  ⁸ sn The expression raised up refers here to making someone king. There is a wordplay here: “raising up” refers to bringing someone onto the scene of history, but it echoes with the parallel to Jesus’ resurrection.

[13:22]  ⁹ tn Grk “about whom.” The relative pronoun (“whom”) was replaced by the pronoun “him” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style, due to the length of the sentence in Greek. The verb εἶπεν (eipen) has not been translated (literally “he said testifying”) because it is redundant when combined with the participle μαρτυρήσας (marturhsa", “testifying”). Instead the construction of verb plus participle has been translated as a single English verb (“testified”).

[13:22]  ¹⁰ sn A quotation from Ps 89:20.

[13:22]  ¹¹ sn A quotation from 1 Sam 13:14.

[13:22]  ¹² tn Or “who will perform all my will,” “who will carry out all my wishes.”

[15:7]  ¹³ tn Or “discussion.” This term is repeated from v. 2.

[15:7]  ¹⁴ tn Or “long ago” (an idiom, literally “from ancient days”). According to L&N 67.26, “this reference to Peter having been chosen by God sometime before to bring the gospel to the Gentiles can hardly be regarded as a reference to ancient times, though some persons understand this to mean that God’s decision was made at the beginning of time. The usage of ἀφ᾿ ἡμερῶν ἀρχαίων is probably designed to emphasize the established nature of God’s decision for Peter to take the gospel to the Gentiles beginning with the centurion Cornelius. The fact that this was relatively early in the development of the church may also serve to explain the use of the idiom.”

[15:7]  ¹⁵ sn God chose. The theme of God’s sovereign choice is an important point, because 1st century Jews believed Israel’s unique position and customs were a reflection of God’s choice.

[15:7]  ¹⁶ tn Or “word.”

[15:7]  ¹⁷ tn Or “of the good news.”

[15:7]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “God chose among you from my mouth the Gentiles to hear the message of the gospel and to believe.” The sense of this sentence in Greek is difficult to render in English. The Greek verb ἐκλέγομαι (eklegomai, “choose”) normally takes a person or thing as a direct object; in this verse the verb has neither clearly stated. The translation understands the phrase “from my mouth,” referring to Peter, as a description of both who God chose and the task to be done. This coupled with the following statement about Gentiles hearing the message of the gospel leads to the more dynamic rendering in the translation.

[27:12]  ¹⁹ tn BDAG 181-82 s.v. βουλή 2.a, “β. τίθεσθαι (Judg 19:30; Ps 12:3) decide 27:12 (w. inf. foll.).”

[27:12]  ²⁰ 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.”

[27:12]  ²¹ tn Grk “from there, if somehow” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was begun here in the translation and the introductory phrase “They hoped that” supplied (with the subject, “they,” repeated from the previous clause) to make a complete English sentence.

[27:12]  ²² tn Grk “if somehow, reaching Phoenix, they could…” The participle καταντήσαντες (katanthsante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[27:12]  ²³ sn Phoenix was a seaport on the southern coast of the island of Crete. This was about 30 mi (48 km) further west.

[27:12]  ²⁴ tn Or “a harbor of Crete open to the southwest and northwest.”