Acts 9:3-5

9:3 As he was going along, approaching ¹  Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed ²  around him. 9:4 He ³  fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, ⁴  why are you persecuting me?” ⁵  9:5 So he said, “Who are you, Lord?” He replied, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting!

Acts 26:12

26:12 “While doing this very thing, ⁶  as I was going ⁷  to Damascus with authority and complete power ⁸  from the chief priests,

[9:3]  ¹ tn Grk “As he was going along, it happened that when he was approaching.” The 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.

[9:3]  ² tn Or “shone” (BDAG 799 s.v. περιαστράπτω). The light was more brilliant than the sun according to Acts 26:13.

[9:4]  ³ tn Grk “and he.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.

[9:4]  ⁴ tn The double vocative suggests emotion.

[9:4]  ⁵ sn Persecuting me. To persecute the church is to persecute Jesus.

[26:12]  ⁶ tn Grk “in which [activity].” Due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 12 in the translation. The referent of the relative pronoun (“which”) was specified as “this very thing” for clarity.

[26:12]  ⁷ tn Grk “going.” The participle πορευόμενος (poreuomenos) has been taken temporally.

[26:12]  ⁸ tn L&N 37.40 s.v. ἐπιτροπή states, “the full authority to carry out an assignment or commission – ‘authority, complete power.’ πορευόμενος εἰς τὴν Δαμασκὸν μετ᾿ ἐξουσίας καὶ ἐπιτροπῆς τῶν ἀρχιερέων ‘going to Damascus with authority and complete power from the high priests’ Ac 26:12. In Ac 26:12 the combination of ἐξουσία and ἐπιτροπή serves to reinforce the sense of complete authority.”