Matthew 5:20

5:20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law ¹  and the Pharisees, ²  you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Acts 5:2-11

5:2 He ³  kept back for himself part of the proceeds with his wife’s knowledge; he brought ⁴  only part of it and placed it at the apostles’ feet. 5:3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled ⁵  your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back for yourself part of the proceeds from the sale of ⁶  the land? 5:4 Before it was sold, ⁷  did it not ⁸  belong to you? And when it was sold, was the money ⁹  not at your disposal? How have you thought up this deed in your heart? ¹⁰  You have not lied to people ¹¹  but to God!”

5:5 When Ananias heard these words he collapsed and died, and great fear gripped ¹²  all who heard about it. 5:6 So the young men came, ¹³  wrapped him up, ¹⁴  carried him out, and buried ¹⁵  him. 5:7 After an interval of about three hours, ¹⁶  his wife came in, but she did not know ¹⁷  what had happened. 5:8 Peter said to her, “Tell me, were the two of you ¹⁸  paid this amount ¹⁹  for the land?” Sapphira ²⁰  said, “Yes, that much.” 5:9 Peter then told her, “Why have you agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out!” 5:10 At once ²¹  she collapsed at his feet and died. So when the young men came in, they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 5:11 Great ²²  fear gripped ²³  the whole church ²⁴  and all who heard about these things.

Acts 8:20-23

8:20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, ²⁵  because you thought you could acquire ²⁶  God’s gift with money! 8:21 You have no share or part ²⁷  in this matter ²⁸  because your heart is not right before God! 8:22 Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord ²⁹  that he may perhaps forgive you for the intent of your heart. ³⁰  8:23 For I see that you are bitterly envious ³¹  and in bondage to sin.”

Acts 8:1

8:1 And Saul agreed completely with killing ³²  him.

Saul Begins to Persecute the Church

Now on that day a great ³³  persecution began ³⁴  against the church in Jerusalem, ³⁵  and all ³⁶  except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions ³⁷  of Judea and Samaria.

Colossians 4:5

4:5 Conduct yourselves ³⁸  with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunities.

[5:20]  ¹ tn Or “that of the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[5:20]  ² sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[5:2]  ³ tn Grk “And he.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[5:2]  ⁴ tn The participle ἐνέγκας (enenka") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[5:3]  ⁵ sn This is a good example of the Greek verb fill (πληρόω, plhrow) meaning “to exercise control over someone’s thought and action” (cf. Eph 5:18).

[5:3]  ⁶ tn The words “from the sale of” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to clarify the meaning, since the phrase “proceeds from the land” could possibly be understood as crops rather than money from the sale.

[5:4]  ⁷ tn Grk “Remaining to you.”

[5:4]  ⁸ tn The negative interrogative particle οὐχί (ouci) expects a positive reply to this question and the following one (“And when it was sold, was it not at your disposal?”).

[5:4]  ⁹ tn Grk “it”; the referent of the pronoun (the money generated from the sale of the land) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:4]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “How is it that you have [or Why have you] placed this deed in your heart?” Both of these literal translations differ from the normal way of expressing the thought in English.

[5:4]  ¹¹ tn Grk “to men.” If Peter’s remark refers only to the apostles, the translation “to men” would be appropriate. But if (as is likely) the action was taken to impress the entire congregation (who would presumably have witnessed the donation or been aware of it) then the more general “to people” is more appropriate, since the audience would have included both men and women.

[5:5]  ¹² tn Or “fear came on,” “fear seized”; Grk “fear happened to.”

[5:6]  ¹³ tn Or “arose.”

[5:6]  ¹⁴ tn The translation “wrapped up” for συνέστειλαν (sunesteilan) is suggested by L&N 79.119, but another interpretation is possible. The same verb could also be translated “removed” (see L&N 15.200), although that sense appears somewhat redundant and out of sequence with the following verb and participle (“carried him out and buried him”).

[5:6]  ¹⁵ sn Buried. Same day burial was a custom in the Jewish world of the first century (cf. also Deut 21:23).

[5:7]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “It happened that after an interval of about three hours.” 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.

[5:7]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “came in, not knowing.” The participle has been translated with concessive or adversative force: “although she did not know.” In English, the adversative conjunction (“but”) conveys this nuance more smoothly.

[5:8]  ¹⁸ tn The words “the two of” are not in the Greek text, but have been supplied to indicate that the verb (ἀπέδοσθε, apedosqe) is plural and thus refers to both Ananias and Sapphira.

[5:8]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “so much,” “as much as this.”

[5:8]  ²⁰ tn Grk “She”; the referent (Sapphira) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:10]  ²¹ tn Grk “And at once.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[5:11]  ²² tn Grk “And great.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[5:11]  ²³ tn Or “fear came on,” “fear seized”; Grk “fear happened to.”

[5:11]  ²⁴ sn This is the first occurrence of the term church (ἐκκλησία, ekklhsia) in Acts. It refers to an assembly of people.

[8:20]  ²⁵ tn Grk “May your silver together with you be sent into destruction.” This is a strong curse. The gifts of God are sovereignly bestowed and cannot be purchased.

[8:20]  ²⁶ tn Or “obtain.”

[8:21]  ²⁷ tn The translation “share or part” is given by L&N 63.13.

[8:21]  ²⁸ tn Since the semantic range for λόγος (logos) is so broad, a number of different translations could be given for the prepositional phrase here. Something along the lines of “in this thing” would work well, but is too colloquial for the present translation.

[8:22]  ²⁹ tn Or “and implore the Lord.”

[8:22]  ³⁰ tn Grk “that if possible the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.” The passive construction is somewhat awkward in contemporary English and has thus been converted to an active construction in the translation.

[8:23]  ³¹ tn Grk “in the gall of bitterness,” an idiom meaning to be particularly envious or resentful of someone. In this case Simon was jealous of the apostles’ power to bestow the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands, and wanted that power for himself. The literal phrase does not convey this to the modern reader, and in fact some modern translations have simply rendered the phrase as involving bitterness, which misses the point of the envy on Simon’s part. See L&N 88.166. The OT images come from Deut 29:17-18 and Isa 58:6.

[8:1]  ³² tn The term ἀναίρεσις (anairesi") can refer to murder (BDAG 64 s.v.; 2 Macc 5:13; Josephus, Ant. 5.2.12 [5.165]).

[8:1]  ³³ tn Or “severe.”

[8:1]  ³⁴ tn Grk “Now there happened on that day a great persecution.” It is less awkward to say in English “Now on that day a great persecution began.”

[8:1]  ³⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[8:1]  ³⁶ sn All. Given that the Jerusalem church is still active after this and that the Hellenists are the focus of Acts 6-8, it is possible to argue that only the Hellenistic Christians were forced to scatter.

[8:1]  ³⁷ tn Or “countryside.”

[4:5]  ³⁸ tn Grk “walk.” The verb περιπατέω (peripatew) is a common NT idiom for one’s lifestyle, behavior, or manner of conduct (L&N 41.11).