Acts 9:19-22

9:19 and after taking some food, his strength returned.

For several days ¹  he was with the disciples in Damascus, 9:20 and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, ²  saying, “This man is the Son of God.” ³  9:21 All ⁴  who heard him were amazed and were saying, “Is this not ⁵  the man who in Jerusalem was ravaging ⁶  those who call on this name, and who had come here to bring them as prisoners ⁷  to the chief priests?” 9:22 But Saul became more and more capable, ⁸  and was causing consternation ⁹  among the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving ¹⁰  that Jesus ¹¹  is the Christ. ¹² 

Acts 11:26-30

11:26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. ¹³  So ¹⁴  for a whole year Barnabas and Saul ¹⁵  met with the church and taught a significant number of people. ¹⁶  Now it was in Antioch ¹⁷  that the disciples were first called Christians. ¹⁸ 

Famine Relief for Judea

11:27 At that time ¹⁹  some ²⁰  prophets ²¹  came down ²²  from Jerusalem ²³  to Antioch. ²⁴  11:28 One of them, named Agabus, got up ²⁵  and predicted ²⁶  by the Spirit that a severe ²⁷  famine ²⁸  was about to come over the whole inhabited world. ²⁹  (This ³⁰  took place during the reign of Claudius.) ³¹  11:29 So the disciples, each in accordance with his financial ability, ³²  decided ³³  to send relief ³⁴  to the brothers living in Judea. 11:30 They did so, ³⁵  sending their financial aid ³⁶  to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

[9:19]  ¹ tn Grk “It happened that for several days.” 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.

[9:20]  ² sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[9:20]  ³ tn The ὅτι (Joti) is understood to introduce direct (“This man is the Son of God”) rather than indirect discourse (“that this man is the Son of God”) because the pronoun οὗτος (Jouto") combined with the present tense verb ἐστιν (estin) suggests the contents of what was proclaimed are a direct (albeit summarized) quotation.

[9:21]  ⁴ tn Grk “And all.” 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.

[9:21]  ⁵ tn The Greek interrogative particle used in this verse (οὐχ, ouc) expects a positive reply. They all knew about Saul’s persecutions.

[9:21]  ⁶ tn Normally, “destroying,” but compare 4 Macc 4:23; 11:4 and MM 529 s.v. πορθέω for examples from Koine papyri. See also BDAG 853 s.v. πορθέω.

[9:21]  ⁷ tn Grk “bring them bound”; the translation “bring someone as prisoner” for δεδεμένον ἄγειν τινά (dedemenon agein tina) is given by BDAG 221 s.v. δέω 1.b.

[9:22]  ⁸ tn Grk “was becoming stronger,” but this could be understood in a physical sense, while the text refers to Saul’s growing ability to demonstrate to fellow Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. The translation “to become capable” for ἐνδυναμόω (endunamow) is given in L&N 74.7, with this specific verse as an example.

[9:22]  ⁹ tn Or “was confounding.” For the translation “to cause consternation” for συγχέω (suncew) see L&N 25.221.

[9:22]  ¹⁰ tn Or “by showing for certain.”

[9:22]  ¹¹ tn Grk “that this one”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:22]  ¹² tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.” Note again the variation in the titles used.

[11:26]  ¹³ sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). See the note in 11:19.

[11:26]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “So 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.

[11:26]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “year they”; the referents (Barnabas and Saul) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:26]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “a significant crowd.”

[11:26]  ¹⁷ sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). See the note in 11:19.

[11:26]  ¹⁸ sn The term Christians appears only here, in Acts 26:28, and 1 Pet 4:16 in the NT.

[11:27]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “In these days,” but the dative generally indicates a specific time.

[11:27]  ²⁰ tn The word “some” is not in the Greek text, but is usually used in English when an unspecified number is mentioned.

[11:27]  ²¹ sn Prophets are mentioned only here and in 13:1 and 21:10 in Acts.

[11:27]  ²² sn Came down from Jerusalem. Antioch in Syria lies due north of Jerusalem. In Western languages it is common to speak of north as “up” and south as “down,” but the NT maintains the Hebrew idiom which speaks of any direction away from Jerusalem as down (since Mount Zion was thought of in terms of altitude).

[11:27]  ²³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[11:27]  ²⁴ sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). See the note in 11:19.

[11:28]  ²⁵ tn Grk “getting up, predicted.” The participle ἀναστάς (anasta") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[11:28]  ²⁶ tn Or “made clear”; Grk “indicated beforehand” (BDAG 920 s.v. σημαίνω 2).

[11:28]  ²⁷ tn Grk “great.”

[11:28]  ²⁸ sn This famine is one of the firmly fixed dates in Acts. It took place from a.d. 45-48. The events described in chap. 11 of Acts occurred during the early part of that period.

[11:28]  ²⁹ tn Or “whole Roman Empire.” While the word οἰκουμένη (oikoumenh) does occasionally refer specifically to the Roman Empire, BDAG 699 s.v. οἰκουνένη 2 does not list this passage (only Acts 24:5 and 17:6).

[11:28]  ³⁰ tn Grk “world, which.” The relative pronoun (“which”) was replaced by the demonstrative pronoun “this” 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.

[11:28]  ³¹ sn This is best taken as a parenthetical note by the author. Claudius was the Roman emperor Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus, known as Claudius, who ruled from a.d. 41-54.

[11:29]  ³² tn So BDAG 410 s.v. εὐπορέω.

[11:29]  ³³ tn Or “determined,” “resolved.”

[11:29]  ³⁴ tn Grk “to send [something] for a ministry,” but today it is common to speak of sending relief for victims of natural disasters.

[11:30]  ³⁵ tn Grk “Judea, which they did.” The relative pronoun was omitted 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.

[11:30]  ³⁶ tn The words “their financial aid” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.