Acts 9:42

9:42 This became known throughout all ¹  Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. ² 

Acts 4:4

4:4 But many of those who had listened to ³  the message ⁴  believed, and the number of the men ⁵  came to about five thousand.

Acts 17:12

17:12 Therefore many of them believed, along with quite a few ⁶  prominent ⁷  Greek women and men.

Acts 8:12

8:12 But when they believed Philip as he was proclaiming the good news about the kingdom of God ⁸  and the name of Jesus Christ, ⁹  they began to be baptized, ¹⁰  both men and women.

Acts 13:48

13:48 When the Gentiles heard this, they began to rejoice ¹¹  and praise ¹²  the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed for eternal life ¹³  believed.

Acts 17:34

17:34 But some people ¹⁴  joined him ¹⁵  and believed. Among them ¹⁶  were Dionysius, who was a member of the Areopagus, ¹⁷  a woman ¹⁸  named Damaris, and others with them.

[9:42]  ¹ tn Or “known all over.” BDAG 511 s.v. κατά A.1.c. has “became known throughout all Joppa” for γνωστὸν γενέσθαι καθ᾿ ὅλης ᾿Ιόππης (gnwston genesqai kaq’ {olh" Iopph").

[9:42]  ² sn This became known…many believed in the Lord. This is a “sign” miracle that pictures how the Lord can give life.

[4:4]  ³ tn Or “had heard.”

[4:4]  ⁴ tn Or “word.”

[4:4]  ⁵ tn In the historical setting it is likely that only men are referred to here. The Greek term ἀνήρ (anhr) usually refers to males or husbands rather than people in general. Thus to translate “of the people” would give a false impression of the number, since any women and children were apparently not included in the count.

[17:12]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Or “respected.”

[8:12]  ⁷ sn The kingdom of God is also what Jesus preached: Acts 1:3. The term reappears in 14:22; 19:8; 28:23, 31.

[8:12]  ⁸ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[8:12]  ⁹ tn The imperfect verb ἐβαπτίζοντο (ebaptizonto) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.

[13:48]  ⁹ tn The imperfect verb ἔχαιρον (ecairon) and the following ἐδόξαζον (edoxazon) are translated as ingressive imperfects.

[13:48]  ¹⁰ tn Or “glorify.” Although “honor” is given by BDAG 258 s.v. δοξάζω as a translation, it would be misleading here, because the meaning is “to honor in the sense of attributing worth to something,” while in contemporary English usage one speaks of “honoring” a contract in the sense of keeping its stipulations. It is not a synonym for “obey” in this context (“obey the word of the Lord”), but that is how many English readers would understand it.

[13:48]  ¹¹ sn Note the contrast to v. 46 in regard to eternal life.

[17:34]  ¹¹ tn Although the Greek word here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which normally refers to males, husbands, etc., in this particular context it must have a generic force similar to that of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), since “a woman named Damaris” is mentioned specifically as being part of this group (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. ἀνήρ 1.a).

[17:34]  ¹² tn Grk “joining him, believed.” The participle κολληθέντες (kollhqente") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. On the use of this verb in Acts, see 5:13; 8:29; 9:26; 10:28.

[17:34]  ¹³ tn Grk “among whom.” Due to the length of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“whom”) has been translated as a third person plural pronoun (“them”) and a new sentence begun in the translation.

[17:34]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “the Areopagite” (a member of the council of the Areopagus). The noun “Areopagite” is not in common usage today in English. It is clearer to use a descriptive phrase “a member of the Areopagus” (L&N 11.82). However, this phrase alone can be misleading in English: “Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, and a woman named Damaris” could be understood to refer to three people (Dionysius, an unnamed member of the Areopagus, and Damaris) rather than only two. Converting the descriptive phrase to a relative clause in English (“who was a member of the Areopagus”) removes the ambiguity.

[17:34]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “and a woman”; but this καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.