Acts 9:2

9:2 and requested letters from him to the synagogues ¹  in Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, ²  either men or women, he could bring them as prisoners ³  to Jerusalem. ⁴ 

Acts 14:28

14:28 So they spent ⁵  considerable ⁶  time with the disciples.

Acts 17:11

17:11 These Jews ⁷  were more open-minded ⁸  than those in Thessalonica, ⁹  for they eagerly ¹⁰  received ¹¹  the message, examining ¹²  the scriptures carefully every day ¹³  to see if these things were so.

Acts 22:24

22:24 the commanding officer ¹⁴  ordered Paul ¹⁵  to be brought back into the barracks. ¹⁶  He told them ¹⁷  to interrogate Paul ¹⁸  by beating him with a lash ¹⁹  so that he could find out the reason the crowd ²⁰  was shouting at Paul ²¹  in this way.

Acts 25:23

Paul Before King Agrippa and Bernice

25:23 So the next day Agrippa ²²  and Bernice came with great pomp ²³  and entered the audience hall, ²⁴  along with the senior military officers ²⁵  and the prominent men of the city. When Festus ²⁶  gave the order, ²⁷  Paul was brought in.

Acts 26:22

26:22 I have experienced ²⁸  help from God to this day, and so I stand testifying to both small and great, saying nothing except ²⁹  what the prophets and Moses said ³⁰  was going to happen:

[9:2]  ¹ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[9:2]  ² sn The expression “the way” in ancient religious literature refers at times to “the whole way of life fr. a moral and spiritual viewpoint” (BDAG 692 s.v. ὁδός 3.c), and it has been so used of Christianity and its teachings in the book of Acts (see also 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22). It is a variation of Judaism’s idea of two ways, the true and the false, where “the Way” is the true one (1 En. 91:18; 2 En. 30:15).

[9:2]  ³ 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.

[9:2]  ⁴ sn From Damascus to Jerusalem was a six-day journey. Christianity had now expanded into Syria.

[14:28]  ⁵ tn BDAG 238 s.v. διατρίβω gives the meaning as “spend” when followed by an accusative τὸν χρόνον (ton cronon) which is the case here.

[14:28]  ⁶ tn Grk “no little (time)” (an idiom).

[17:11]  ⁹ tn Grk “These”; the referent (the Jews in the synagogue at Berea) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:11]  ¹⁰ tn Or “more willing to learn.” L&N 27.48 and BDAG 404 s.v. εὐγενής 2 both use the term “open-minded” here. The point is that they were more receptive to Paul’s message.

[17:11]  ¹¹ sn Thessalonica was a city in Macedonia (modern Salonica).

[17:11]  ¹² tn Or “willingly,” “readily”; Grk “with all eagerness.”

[17:11]  ¹³ tn Grk “who received.” Here the relative pronoun (“who”) has been translated as a pronoun (“they”) preceded by a semicolon, which is less awkward in contemporary English than a relative clause at this point.

[17:11]  ¹⁴ tn This verb (BDAG 66 s.v. ἀνακρίνω 1) refers to careful examination.

[17:11]  ¹⁵ tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase in this verse.

[22:24]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:24]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:24]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “they”; the referent (the crowd) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

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

[25:23]  ¹⁷ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

[25:23]  ¹⁸ tn Or “great pageantry” (BDAG 1049 s.v. φαντασία; the term is a NT hapax legomenon).

[25:23]  ¹⁹ tn Or “auditorium.” “Auditorium” may suggest to the modern English reader a theater where performances are held. Here it is the large hall where a king or governor would hold audiences. Paul once spoke of himself as a “spectacle” to the world (1 Cor 4:8-13).

[25:23]  ²⁰ tn Grk “the chiliarchs” (officers 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.

[25:23]  ²¹ sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.

[25:23]  ²² tn Grk “and Festus ordering, Paul was brought in.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was begun in the translation, and καί (kai) has not been translated. The participle κελεύσαντος (keleusanto") has been taken temporally.

[26:22]  ²¹ tn Grk “So experiencing…I stand.” The participle τυχών (tucwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[26:22]  ²² tn BDAG 311 s.v. ἐκτός 3.b, “functions as prep. w. gen. οὐδὲν ἐ. ὧν nothing except what (cf. 1 Ch 29:3; 2 Ch 17:19; TestNapht. 6:2) Ac 26:22.”

[26:22]  ²³ sn What the prophets and Moses said. Paul argued that his message reflected the hope of the Jewish scriptures.