Acts 7:6

7:6 But God spoke as follows: ‘Your ¹  descendants will be foreigners ²  in a foreign country, whose citizens will enslave them and mistreat them for four hundred years. ³ 

Acts 12:15

12:15 But they said to her, “You’ve lost your mind!” ⁴  But she kept insisting that it was Peter, ⁵  and they kept saying, ⁶  “It is his angel!” ⁷ 

Acts 13:8

13:8 But the magician Elymas ⁸  (for that is the way his name is translated) ⁹  opposed them, trying to turn the proconsul ¹⁰  away from the faith.

Acts 13:34

13:34 But regarding the fact that he has raised Jesus ¹¹  from the dead, never ¹²  again to be ¹³  in a state of decay, God ¹⁴  has spoken in this way: ‘I will give you ¹⁵  the holy and trustworthy promises ¹⁶  made to David.’ ¹⁷ 

Acts 13:47

13:47 For this ¹⁸  is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have appointed ¹⁹  you to be a light ²⁰  for the Gentiles, to bring salvation ²¹  to the ends of the earth.’” ²² 

Acts 14:1

Paul and Barnabas at Iconium

14:1 The same thing happened in Iconium ²³  when Paul and Barnabas ²⁴  went into the Jewish synagogue ²⁵  and spoke in such a way that a large group ²⁶  of both Jews and Greeks believed.

Acts 22:24

22:24 the commanding officer ²⁷  ordered Paul ²⁸  to be brought back into the barracks. ²⁹  He told them ³⁰  to interrogate Paul ³¹  by beating him with a lash ³²  so that he could find out the reason the crowd ³³  was shouting at Paul ³⁴  in this way.

Acts 27:17

27:17 After the crew ³⁵  had hoisted it aboard, ³⁶  they used supports ³⁷  to undergird the ship. Fearing they would run aground ³⁸  on the Syrtis, ³⁹  they lowered the sea anchor, ⁴⁰  thus letting themselves be driven along.

Acts 27:44

27:44 and the rest were to follow, ⁴¹  some on planks ⁴²  and some on pieces of the ship. ⁴³  And in this way ⁴⁴  all were brought safely to land.

[7:6]  ¹ tn Grk “that his”; the discourse switches from indirect to direct with the following verbs. For consistency the entire quotation is treated as second person direct discourse in the translation.

[7:6]  ² tn Or “will be strangers,” that is, one who lives as a noncitizen of a foreign country.

[7:6]  ³ sn A quotation from Gen 15:13. Exod 12:40 specifies the sojourn as 430 years.

[12:15]  ⁴ sn “You’ve lost your mind!” Such a response to the miraculous is not unusual in Luke-Acts. See Luke 24:11; Acts 26:25. The term μαίνομαι (mainomai) can have the idea of being “raving mad” or “totally irrational” (BDAG 610 s.v.). It is a strong expression.

[12:15]  ⁵ tn Grk “she kept insisting that the situation was thus” (cf. BDAG 422 s.v. ἔχω 10.a). Most translations supply a less awkward English phrase like “it was so”; the force of her insistence, however, is that “it was Peter,” which was the point under dispute.

[12:15]  ⁶ tn The two imperfect tense verbs, διϊσχυρίζετο (diiscurizeto) and ἔλεγον (elegon), are both taken iteratively. The picture is thus virtually a shouting match between Rhoda and the rest of the believers.

[12:15]  ⁷ sn The assumption made by those inside, “It is his angel,” seems to allude to the idea of an attending angel (cf. Gen 48:16 LXX; Matt 18:10; Test. Jacob 1:10).

[13:8]  ⁷ tn On the debate over what the name “Elymas” means, see BDAG 320 s.v. ᾿Ελύμας. The magician’s behavior is more directly opposed to the faith than Simon Magus’ was.

[13:8]  ⁸ sn A parenthetical note by the author.

[13:8]  ⁹ sn The proconsul was the Roman official who ruled over a province traditionally under the control of the Roman senate.

[13:34]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:34]  ¹¹ tn Although μηκέτι (mhketi) can mean “no longer” or “no more,” the latter is more appropriate here, since to translate “no longer” in this context could give the reader the impression that Jesus did experience decay before his resurrection. Since the phrase “no more again to be” is somewhat awkward in English, the simpler phrase “never again to be” was used instead.

[13:34]  ¹² tn The translation “to be in again” for ὑποστρέφω (Jupostrefw) is given in L&N 13.24.

[13:34]  ¹³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:34]  ¹⁴ tn The pronoun “you” is plural here. The promises of David are offered to the people.

[13:34]  ¹⁵ tn Or “the trustworthy decrees made by God to David.” The phrase τὰ ὅσια Δαυὶδ τὰ πιστά (ta Josia Dauid ta pista) is “compressed,” that is, in a very compact or condensed form. It could be expanded in several different ways. BDAG 728 s.v. ὅσιος 3 understands it to refer to divine decrees: “I will grant you the sure decrees of God relating to David.” BDAG then states that this quotation from Isa 55:3 is intended to show that the following quotation from Ps 16:10 could not refer to David himself, but must refer to his messianic descendant (Jesus). L&N 33.290 render the phrase “I will give to you the divine promises made to David, promises that can be trusted,” although they also note that τὰ ὅσια in Acts 13:34 can mean “divine decrees” or “decrees made by God.” In contemporary English it is less awkward to translate πιστά as an adjective (“trustworthy”). The concept of “divine decrees,” not very understandable to the modern reader, has been replaced by “promises,” and since God is the implied speaker in the context, it is clear that these promises were made by God.

[13:34]  ¹⁶ sn A quotation from Isa 55:3. The point of this citation is to make clear that the promise of a Davidic line and blessings are made to the people as well.

[13:47]  ¹³ tn Here οὕτως (Joutws) is taken to refer to what follows, the content of the quotation, as given for this verse by BDAG 742 s.v. οὕτω/οὕτως 2.

[13:47]  ¹⁴ tn BDAG 1004 s.v. τίθημι 3.a has “τιθέναι τινὰ εἴς τι place/appoint someone to or for (to function as) someth….Ac 13:47.” This is a double accusative construction of object (“you”) and complement (“a light”).

[13:47]  ¹⁵ sn Paul alludes here to the language of the Servant in Isaiah, pointing to Isa 42:6; 49:6. He and Barnabas do the work of the Servant in Isaiah.

[13:47]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “that you should be for salvation,” but more simply “to bring salvation.”

[13:47]  ¹⁷ sn An allusion to Isa 42:6 and 49:6. The expression the ends of the earth recalls Luke 3:6 and Acts 1:8. Paul sees himself and Barnabas as carrying out the commission of Luke 24:27. (See 2 Cor 6:2, where servant imagery also appears concerning Paul’s message.)

[14:1]  ¹⁶ sn Iconium. See the note in 13:51.

[14:1]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “they”; the referents (Paul and Barnabas) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:1]  ¹⁸ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[14:1]  ¹⁹ tn Or “that a large crowd.”

[22:24]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). In Greek the term χιλίαρχος (ciliarco") literally described the “commander of a thousand,” but it was used as the standard translation for the Latin tribunus militum or tribunus militare, the military tribune who commanded a cohort of 600 men.

[22:24]  ²⁰ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:24]  ²¹ tn Or “the headquarters.” BDAG 775 s.v. παρεμβολή 2 has “barracks/headquarters of the Roman troops in Jerusalem Ac 21:34, 37; 22:24; 23:10, 16, 32.”

[22:24]  ²² tn Grk “into the barracks, saying.” This is a continuation of the same sentence in Greek using the participle εἴπας (eipas), but due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence a new sentence was begun in the translation here. The direct object “them” has been supplied; it is understood in Greek.

[22:24]  ²³ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:24]  ²⁴ sn To interrogate Paul by beating him with a lash. Under the Roman legal system it was customary to use physical torture to extract confessions or other information from prisoners who were not Roman citizens and who were charged with various crimes, especially treason or sedition. The lashing would be done with a whip of leather thongs with pieces of metal or bone attached to the ends.

[22:24]  ²⁵ tn Grk “they”; the referent (the crowd) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:24]  ²⁶ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:17]  ²² tn Grk “After hoisting it up, they…”; the referent (the ship’s crew) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:17]  ²³ tn The participle ἄραντες (arantes) has been taken temporally.

[27:17]  ²⁴ tn Possibly “ropes” or “cables”; Grk “helps” (a word of uncertain meaning; probably a nautical technical term, BDAG 180 s.v. βοήθεια 2).

[27:17]  ²⁵ tn BDAG 308 s.v. ἐκπίπτω 2 states, “drift off course, run aground, nautical term εἴς τι on someth….on the Syrtis 27:17.”

[27:17]  ²⁶ tn That is, on the sandbars and shallows of the Syrtis.

[27:17]  ²⁷ tn Or perhaps “mainsail.” The meaning of this word is uncertain. BDAG 927 s.v. σκεῦος 1 has “τὸ σκεῦος Ac 27:17 seems to be the kedge or driving anchor” while C. Maurer (TDNT 7:362) notes, “The meaning in Ac. 27:17: χαλάσαντες τὸ σκεῦος, is uncertain. Prob. the ref. is not so much to taking down the sails as to throwing the draganchor overboard to lessen the speed of the ship.” In spite of this L&N 6.1 states, “In Ac 27:17, for example, the reference of σκεῦος is generally understood to be the mainsail.” A reference to the sail is highly unlikely because in a storm of the force described in Ac 27:14, the sail would have been taken down and reefed immediately, to prevent its being ripped to shreds or torn away by the gale.

[27:44]  ²⁵ tn The words “were to follow” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. They must be supplied to clarify the sense in contemporary English.

[27:44]  ²⁶ tn Or “boards” according to BDAG 913 s.v. σανίς.

[27:44]  ²⁷ tn Grk “on pieces from the ship”; that is, pieces of wreckage from the ship.

[27:44]  ²⁸ tn Grk “And in this way it happened that.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.