Acts 8:1

8:1 And Saul agreed completely with killing ¹  him.

Saul Begins to Persecute the Church

Now on that day a great ²  persecution began ³  against the church in Jerusalem, ⁴  and all ⁵  except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions ⁶  of Judea and Samaria.

Acts 12:6

12:6 On that very night before Herod was going to bring him out for trial, ⁷  Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, while ⁸  guards in front of the door were keeping watch ⁹  over the prison.

[8:1]  ¹ tn The term ἀναίρεσις (anairesi") can refer to murder (BDAG 64 s.v.; 2 Macc 5:13; Josephus, Ant. 5.2.12 [5.165]).

[8:1]  ² tn Or “severe.”

[8:1]  ³ tn Grk “Now there happened on that day a great persecution.” It is less awkward to say in English “Now on that day a great persecution began.”

[8:1]  ⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[8:1]  ⁵ sn All. Given that the Jerusalem church is still active after this and that the Hellenists are the focus of Acts 6-8, it is possible to argue that only the Hellenistic Christians were forced to scatter.

[8:1]  ⁶ tn Or “countryside.”

[12:6]  ⁷ tn Grk “was going to bring him out,” but the upcoming trial is implied. See Acts 12:4.

[12:6]  ⁸ tn Grk “two chains, and.” Logically it makes better sense to translate this as a temporal clause, although technically it is a coordinate clause in Greek.

[12:6]  ⁹ tn Or “were guarding.”