Acts 7:53

7:53 You ¹  received the law by decrees given by angels, ²  but you did not obey ³  it.” ⁴ 

Acts 26:11

26:11 I punished ⁵  them often in all the synagogues ⁶  and tried to force ⁷  them to blaspheme. Because I was so furiously enraged ⁸  at them, I went to persecute ⁹  them even in foreign cities.

Ecclesiastes 10:3

10:3 Even when a fool walks along the road he lacks sense, ¹⁰ 

and shows ¹¹  everyone what a fool he is. ¹² 

[7:53]  ¹ tn Grk “whose betrayers and murderers you have now become, who received the law” The two consecutive relative clauses make for awkward English style, so the second was begun as a new sentence with the pronoun “You” supplied in place of the Greek relative pronoun to make a complete sentence in English.

[7:53]  ² tn Traditionally, “as ordained by angels,” but εἰς (eis) with the accusative here should be understood as instrumental (a substitute for ἐν [en]); so BDAG 291 s.v. εἰς 9, BDF §206. Thus the phrase literally means “received the law by the decrees [orders] of angels” with the genitive understood as a subjective genitive, that is, the angels gave the decrees.

[7:53]  ³ tn The Greek word φυλάσσω (fulassw, traditionally translated “keep”) in this context connotes preservation of and devotion to an object as well as obedience.

[7:53]  ⁴ tn Or “did not obey it.”

[26:11]  ⁵ tn Grk “and punishing…I tried.” The participle τιμωρῶν (timwrwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. 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.

[26:11]  ⁶ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[26:11]  ⁷ tn The imperfect verb ἠνάγκαζον (hnankazon) has been translated as a conative imperfect (so BDAG 60 s.v. ἀναγκάζω 1, which has “ἠνάγκαζον βλασφημεῖν I tried to force them to blaspheme Ac 26:11”).

[26:11]  ⁸ tn Or “was so insanely angry with them.” BDAG 322 s.v. ἐμμαίνομαι states, “to be filled with such anger that one appears to be mad, be enraged…περισσῶς ἐμμαινόμενος αὐτοῖς being furiously enraged at them Ac 26:11”; L&N 88.182 s.v. ἐμμαίνομαι, “to be so furiously angry with someone as to be almost out of one’s mind – ‘to be enraged, to be infuriated, to be insanely angry’ …‘I was so infuriated with them that I even went to foreign cities to persecute them’ Ac 26:11.”

[26:11]  ⁹ tn Or “I pursued them even as far as foreign cities.”

[10:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he lacks his heart.”

[10:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he tells everyone.”

[10:3]  ¹² sn A fool’s lack of wisdom is obvious to everyone, even when he is engaged in the simple, ordinary actions of life.