Acts 9:17

9:17 So Ananias departed and entered the house, placed ¹  his hands on Saul ²  and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came here, ³  has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ⁴ 

Acts 10:22

10:22 They said, “Cornelius the centurion, ⁵  a righteous ⁶  and God-fearing man, well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, ⁷  was directed by a holy angel to summon you to his house and to hear a message ⁸  from you.”

Acts 13:46

13:46 Both Paul and Barnabas replied courageously, ⁹  “It was necessary to speak the word of God ¹⁰  to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy ¹¹  of eternal life, we ¹²  are turning to the Gentiles. ¹³ 

Acts 14:15

14:15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We too are men, with human natures ¹⁴  just like you! We are proclaiming the good news to you, so that you should turn ¹⁵  from these worthless ¹⁶  things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, ¹⁷  the sea, and everything that is in them.

Acts 15:7

15:7 After there had been much debate, ¹⁸  Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that some time ago ¹⁹  God chose ²⁰  me to preach to the Gentiles so they would hear the message ²¹  of the gospel ²²  and believe. ²³ 

Acts 17:18

17:18 Also some of the Epicurean ²⁴  and Stoic ²⁵  philosophers were conversing ²⁶  with him, and some were asking, ²⁷  “What does this foolish babbler ²⁸  want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.” ²⁹  (They said this because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) ³⁰ 

Acts 19:27

19:27 There is danger not only that this business of ours will come into disrepute, ³¹  but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis ³²  will be regarded as nothing, ³³  and she whom all the province of Asia ³⁴  and the world worship will suffer the loss of her greatness.” ³⁵ 

Acts 25:24

25:24 Then Festus ³⁶  said, “King Agrippa, ³⁷  and all you who are present here with us, you see this man about whom the entire Jewish populace ³⁸  petitioned ³⁹  me both in Jerusalem ⁴⁰  and here, ⁴¹  shouting loudly ⁴²  that he ought not to live any longer.

[9:17]  ¹ tn Grk “and placing his hands on Saul, he said.” The participle ἐπιθείς (epiqei") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. For the same reason καί (kai) has not been translated before the participle.

[9:17]  ² tn Grk “on him”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:17]  ³ tn Grk “on the road in which you came,” but the relative clause makes for awkward English style, so it was translated as a temporal clause (“as you came here”).

[9:17]  ⁴ sn Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Here someone who is not an apostle (Ananias) commissions another person with the Spirit.

[10:22]  ⁵ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[10:22]  ⁶ tn Or “just.”

[10:22]  ⁷ tn The phrase τοῦ ἔθνους τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων (tou eqnou" twn Ioudaiwn) is virtually a technical term for the Jewish nation (1 Macc 10:25; 11:30, 33; Josephus, Ant. 14.10.22 [14.248]). “All the Jewish people,” while another possible translation of the Greek phrase, does not convey the technical sense of a reference to the nation in English.

[10:22]  ⁸ tn Grk “hear words.”

[13:46]  ⁹ tn Grk “Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out courageously and said.” The redundancy is removed in the translation and the verb “replied” is used in keeping with the logical sequence of events. The theme of boldness reappears: Acts 4:24-30; 9:27-28.

[13:46]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken.” For smoothness and simplicity of English style, the passive construction has been converted to active voice in the translation.

[13:46]  ¹¹ tn Or “and consider yourselves unworthy.”

[13:46]  ¹² tn Grk “behold, we.” In this context ἰδού (idou) is not easily translated into English.

[13:46]  ¹³ sn This turning to the Gentiles would be a shocking rebuke to 1st century Jews who thought they alone were the recipients of the promise.

[14:15]  ¹³ tn Grk “with the same kinds of feelings,” L&N 25.32. BDAG 706 s.v. ὁμοιοπαθής translates the phrase “with the same nature τινί as someone.” In the immediate context, the contrast is between human and divine nature, and the point is that Paul and Barnabas are mere mortals, not gods.

[14:15]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “in order that you should turn,” with ἐπιστρέφειν (epistrefein) as an infinitive of purpose, but this is somewhat awkward contemporary English. To translate the infinitive construction “proclaim the good news, that you should turn,” which is much smoother English, could give the impression that the infinitive clause is actually the content of the good news, which it is not. The somewhat less formal “to get you to turn” would work, but might convey to some readers manipulativeness on the part of the apostles. Thus “proclaim the good news, so that you should turn,” is used, to convey that the purpose of the proclamation of good news is the response by the hearers. The emphasis here is like 1 Thess 1:9-10.

[14:15]  ¹⁵ tn Or “useless,” “futile.” The reference is to idols and idolatry, worshiping the creation over the Creator (Rom 1:18-32). See also 1 Kgs 16:2, 13, 26; 2 Kgs 17:15; Jer 2:5; 8:19; 3 Macc 6:11.

[14:15]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “and the earth, and the sea,” but καί (kai) has not been translated before “the earth” and “the sea” since contemporary English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[15:7]  ¹⁷ tn Or “discussion.” This term is repeated from v. 2.

[15:7]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn Or “word.”

[15:7]  ²¹ tn Or “of the good news.”

[15:7]  ²² 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.

[17:18]  ²¹ sn An Epicurean was a follower of the philosophy of Epicurus, who founded a school in Athens about 300 b.c. Although the Epicureans saw the aim of life as pleasure, they were not strictly hedonists, because they defined pleasure as the absence of pain. Along with this, they desired the avoidance of trouble and freedom from annoyances. They saw organized religion as evil, especially the belief that the gods punished evildoers in an afterlife. In keeping with this, they were unable to accept Paul’s teaching about the resurrection.

[17:18]  ²² sn A Stoic was a follower of the philosophy founded by Zeno (342-270 b.c.), a Phoenician who came to Athens and modified the philosophical system of the Cynics he found there. The Stoics rejected the Epicurean ideal of pleasure, stressing virtue instead. The Stoics emphasized responsibility for voluntary actions and believed risks were worth taking, but thought the actual attainment of virtue was difficult. They also believed in providence.

[17:18]  ²³ tn BDAG 956 s.v. συμβάλλω 1 has “converse, confer” here.

[17:18]  ²⁴ tn Grk “saying.”

[17:18]  ²⁵ tn Or “ignorant show-off.” The traditional English translation of σπερμολόγος (spermologo") is given in L&N 33.381 as “foolish babbler.” However, an alternate view is presented in L&N 27.19, “(a figurative extension of meaning of a term based on the practice of birds in picking up seeds) one who acquires bits and pieces of relatively extraneous information and proceeds to pass them off with pretense and show – ‘ignorant show-off, charlatan.’” A similar view is given in BDAG 937 s.v. σπερμολόγος: “in pejorative imagery of persons whose communication lacks sophistication and seems to pick up scraps of information here and there scrapmonger, scavenger…Engl. synonyms include ‘gossip’, ‘babbler’, chatterer’; but these terms miss the imagery of unsystematic gathering.”

[17:18]  ²⁶ tn The meaning of this phrase is not clear. Literally it reads “strange deities” (see BDAG 210 s.v. δαιμόνιον 1). The note of not being customary is important. In the ancient world what was new was suspicious. The plural δαιμονίων (daimoniwn, “deities”) shows the audience grappling with Paul’s teaching that God was working through Jesus.

[17:18]  ²⁷ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[19:27]  ²⁵ tn Or “come under public criticism.” BDAG 101 s.v. ἀπελεγμός has “come into disrepute Ac 19:27.”

[19:27]  ²⁶ sn Artemis was the name of a Greek goddess worshiped particularly in Asia Minor, whose temple, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was located just outside the city of Ephesus.

[19:27]  ²⁷ tn BDAG 597 s.v. λογίζομαι 1.b has “εἰς οὐθὲν λογισθῆναι be looked upon as nothing…Ac 19:27.”

[19:27]  ²⁸ tn Grk “Asia”; see the note on this word in v. 22.

[19:27]  ²⁹ tn Or “her magnificence.” BDAG 488 s.v. καθαιρέω 2.b has “καθαιρεῖσθαι τῆς μεγαλειότητος αὐτῆς suffer the loss of her magnificence Ac 19:27”; L&N 13.38 has “‘and to have her greatness done away with’ Ac 19:27.”

[25:24]  ²⁹ sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.

[25:24]  ³⁰ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

[25:24]  ³¹ tn Probably best understood as rhetorical hyperbole. BDAG 825 s.v. πλῆθος 2.b.γ states, “people, populace, population…τὸ πλῆθος the populace…ἅπαν τὸ πλ. τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων Ac 25:24.” However, the actions of the leadership are seen by Luke as representing the actions of the entire nation, so the remark is not inaccurate.

[25:24]  ³² tn Or “appealed to” (BDAG 341 s.v. ἐντυγχάνω 1.a).

[25:24]  ³³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[25:24]  ³⁴ sn Here means “here in Caesarea.”

[25:24]  ³⁵ tn Or “screaming.”