Acts 9:33

9:33 He found there a man named Aeneas who had been confined to a mattress for eight years because ¹  he was paralyzed.

Acts 15:14

15:14 Simeon ²  has explained ³  how God first concerned himself ⁴  to select ⁵  from among the Gentiles ⁶  a people for his name.

Acts 15:29

15:29 that you abstain from meat that has been sacrificed to idols ⁷  and from blood and from what has been strangled ⁸  and from sexual immorality. ⁹  If you keep yourselves from doing these things, ¹⁰  you will do well. Farewell. ¹¹ 

Acts 17:12

17:12 Therefore many of them believed, along with quite a few ¹²  prominent ¹³  Greek women and men.

Acts 20:30

20:30 Even from among your own group ¹⁴  men ¹⁵  will arise, teaching perversions of the truth ¹⁶  to draw the disciples away after them.

Acts 27:22

27:22 And now I advise ¹⁷  you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only the ship will be lost. ¹⁸ 

[9:33]  ¹ tn Since the participle κατακείμενον (katakeimenon), an adjectival participle modifying Αἰνέαν (Ainean), has been translated into English as a relative clause (“who had been confined to a mattress”), it would be awkward to follow with a second relative clause (Grk “who was paralyzed”). Furthermore, the relative pronoun here has virtually a causal force, giving the reason for confinement to the mattress, so it is best translated “because.”

[15:14]  ² sn Simeon is a form of the apostle Peter’s Aramaic name. James uses Peter’s “Jewish” name here.

[15:14]  ³ tn Or “reported,” “described.”

[15:14]  ⁴ tn BDAG 378 s.v. ἐπισκέπτομαι 3 translates this phrase in Acts 15:14, “God concerned himself about winning a people fr. among the nations.”

[15:14]  ⁵ tn Grk “to take,” but in the sense of selecting or choosing (accompanied by the preposition ἐκ [ek] plus a genitive specifying the group selected from) see Heb 5:1; also BDAG 584 s.v. λαμβάνω 6.

[15:14]  ⁶ sn In the Greek text the expression “from among the Gentiles” is in emphatic position.

[15:29]  ³ tn There is no specific semantic component in the Greek word εἰδωλόθυτος that means “meat” (see BDAG 280 s.v. εἰδωλόθυτος; L&N 5.15). The stem –θυτος means “sacrifice” (referring to an animal sacrificially killed) and thereby implies meat.

[15:29]  ⁴ tc Codex Bezae (D) and a few other witnesses lack the restriction “and from what has been strangled” (καὶ πνικτῶν, kai pniktwn), though the words are supported by a wide variety of early and important witnesses otherwise and should be considered authentic.

[15:29]  ⁵ tc Codex Bezae (D) as well as 323 614 945 1739 1891 sa and other witnesses have after “sexual immorality” the following statement: “And whatever you do not want to happen to yourselves, do not do to another/others.” By adding this negative form of the Golden Rule, these witnesses effectively change the Apostolic Decree from what might be regarded as ceremonial restrictions into more ethical demands. The issues here are quite complicated, and beyond the scope of this brief note. Suffice it to say that D and its allies here are almost surely an expansion and alteration of the original text of Acts. For an excellent discussion of the exegetical and textual issues, see TCGNT 379-83.

[15:29]  ⁶ tn Grk “from which things keeping yourselves.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (ὧν, |wn) has been replaced by a pronoun (“these things”) and a new English sentence begun. The participle διατηροῦντες (diathrounte") has been translated as a conditional adverbial participle (“if you keep yourselves”). See further L&N 13.153.

[15:29]  ⁷ tn The phrase ἔρρωσθε (errwsqe) may be understood as a stock device indicating a letter is complete (“good-bye,” L&N 33.24) or as a sincere wish that the persons involved may fare well (“may you fare well,” L&N 23.133).

[17:12]  ⁴ tn Grk “not a few”; this use of negation could be misleading to the modern English reader, however, and so has been translated as “quite a few” (which is the actual meaning of the expression).

[17:12]  ⁵ tn Or “respected.”

[20:30]  ⁵ tn Grk “from among yourselves.”

[20:30]  ⁶ tn The Greek term here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which only rarely is used in a generic sense to refer to both males and females. Since Paul is speaking to the Ephesian elders at this point and there is nothing in the context to suggest women were included in that group (“from among your own group”), it is most likely Paul was not predicting that these false teachers would include women.

[20:30]  ⁷ tn Grk “speaking crooked things”; BDAG 237 s.v. διαστρέφω 2 has “λαλεῖν διεστραμμένα teach perversions (of the truth) Ac 20:30.”

[27:22]  ⁶ tn The same verb is used for Paul’s original recommendation in Ac 27:9.

[27:22]  ⁷ tn Grk “except the ship.” Here “but” is used to translate the improper preposition πλήν (plhn; see BDAG 826 s.v. πλήν 2) since an exception like this, where two different categories of objects are involved (people and a ship), is more naturally expressed in contemporary English with an adversative (“but”). The words “will be lost” are also supplied for clarity.