Isaiah 1:15

1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,

I look the other way; ¹ 

when you offer your many prayers,

I do not listen,

because your hands are covered with blood. ² 

Malachi 1:9

1:9 But now plead for God’s favor ³  that he might be gracious to us. ⁴  “With this kind of offering in your hands, how can he be pleased with you?” asks the Lord who rules over all.

Matthew 17:19-20

17:19 Then the disciples came ⁵  to Jesus privately and said, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?” 17:20 He told them, “It was because of your little faith. I tell you the truth, ⁶  if you have faith the size of ⁷  a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; nothing ⁸  will be impossible for you.”

Acts 19:15-16

19:15 But the evil spirit replied to them, ⁹  “I know about Jesus ¹⁰  and I am acquainted with ¹¹  Paul, but who are you?” ¹²  19:16 Then the man who was possessed by ¹³  the evil spirit jumped on ¹⁴  them and beat them all into submission. ¹⁵  He prevailed ¹⁶  against them so that they fled from that house naked and wounded.

Acts 19:1

Disciples of John the Baptist at Ephesus

19:1 While ¹⁷  Apollos was in Corinth, ¹⁸  Paul went through the inland ¹⁹  regions ²⁰  and came to Ephesus. ²¹  He ²²  found some disciples there ²³ 

Acts 2:8

2:8 And how is it that each one of us hears them ²⁴  in our own native language? ²⁵ 

James 5:15-16

5:15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up – and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ²⁶  5:16 So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness. ²⁷ 

[1:15]  ¹ tn Heb “I close my eyes from you.”

[1:15]  ² sn This does not just refer to the blood of sacrificial animals, but also the blood, as it were, of their innocent victims. By depriving the poor and destitute of proper legal recourse and adequate access to the economic system, the oppressors have, for all intents and purposes, “killed” their victims.

[1:9]  ³ tn Heb “seek the face of God.”

[1:9]  ⁴ tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav conjunction indicates purpose (cf. NASB, NRSV).

[17:19]  ⁵ tn Grk “coming, the disciples said.” The participle προσελθόντες (proselqontes) has been translated as a finite verb to make the sequence of events clear in English.

[17:20]  ⁶ tn Grk “For truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.” Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated.

[17:20]  ⁷ tn Grk “faith as,” “faith like.”

[17:20]  ⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[19:15]  ⁹ tn Grk “answered and said to them.” The expression, redundant in English, has been simplified to “replied.”

[19:15]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “Jesus I know about.” Here ᾿Ιησοῦν (Ihsoun) is in emphatic position in Greek, but placing the object first is not normal in contemporary English style.

[19:15]  ¹¹ tn BDAG 380 s.v. ἐπίσταμαι 2 has “know, be acquainted with τινά…τὸν Παῦλον Ac 19:15.” Here the translation “be acquainted with” was used to differentiate from the previous phrase which has γινώσκω (ginwskw).

[19:15]  ¹² sn But who are you? This account shows how the power of Paul was so distinct that parallel claims to access that power were denied. In fact, such manipulation, by those who did not know Jesus, was judged (v. 16). The indirect way in which the exorcists made the appeal shows their distance from Jesus.

[19:16]  ¹³ tn Grk “in whom the evil spirit was.”

[19:16]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “the man in whom the evil spirit was, jumping on them.” The participle ἐφαλόμενος (efalomeno") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. L&N 15.239 has “ἐφαλόμενος ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐπ᾿ αὐτούς ‘the man jumped on them’ Ac 19:16.”

[19:16]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “and beating them all into submission.” The participle κατακυριεύσας (katakurieusa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. According to W. Foerster, TDNT 3:1098, the word means “the exercise of dominion against someone, i.e., to one’s own advantage.” These exorcists were shown to be powerless in comparison to Jesus who was working through Paul.

[19:16]  ¹⁶ tn BDAG 484 s.v. ἰσχύω 3 has “win out, prevail…κατά τινος over, against someone Ac 19:16.”

[19:1]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “It happened that while.” 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.

[19:1]  ¹⁸ map For location see JP1 C2; JP2 C2; JP3 C2; JP4 C2.

[19:1]  ¹⁹ tn Or “interior.”

[19:1]  ²⁰ tn BDAG 92 s.v. ἀνωτερικός has “upper τὰ ἀ. μέρη the upper (i.e. inland) country, the interior Ac 19:1.”

[19:1]  ²¹ map For location see JP1 D2; JP2 D2; JP3 D2; JP4 D2.

[19:1]  ²² tn Grk “and found.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the sequencing with the following verse the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.

[19:1]  ²³ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text but is implied.

[2:8]  ²⁴ tn Grk “we hear them, each one of us.”

[2:8]  ²⁵ tn Grk “in our own language in which we were born.”

[5:15]  ²⁶ tn Grk “it will be forgiven him.”

[5:16]  ²⁷ tn Or “the fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful”; Grk “is very powerful in its working.”