Proverbs 1:12-13

1:12 We will swallow them alive ¹  like Sheol, ² 

those full of vigor ³  like those going down to the Pit.

1:13 We will seize ⁴  all kinds ⁵  of precious wealth;

we will fill our houses with plunder. ⁶ 

Proverbs 23:4-5

23:4 Do not wear yourself out to become rich;

be wise enough to restrain yourself. ⁷ 

23:5 When you gaze upon riches, ⁸  they are gone,

for they surely make wings for themselves,

and fly off into the sky like an eagle! ⁹ 

Proverbs 28:20

28:20 A faithful person ¹⁰  will have an abundance of blessings,

but the one who hastens ¹¹  to gain riches will not go unpunished.

John 2:16

2:16 To those who sold the doves he said, “Take these things away from here! Do not make ¹²  my Father’s house a marketplace!” ¹³ 

John 6:26-27

6:26 Jesus replied, ¹⁴  “I tell you the solemn truth, ¹⁵  you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate all the loaves of bread you wanted. ¹⁶  6:27 Do not work for the food that disappears, ¹⁷  but for the food that remains to eternal life – the food ¹⁸  which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has put his seal of approval on him.” ¹⁹ 

Acts 19:24-26

19:24 For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines ²⁰  of Artemis, ²¹  brought a great deal ²²  of business ²³  to the craftsmen. 19:25 He gathered ²⁴  these ²⁵  together, along with the workmen in similar trades, ²⁶  and said, “Men, you know that our prosperity ²⁷  comes from this business. 19:26 And you see and hear that this Paul has persuaded ²⁸  and turned away ²⁹  a large crowd, ³⁰  not only in Ephesus ³¹  but in practically all of the province of Asia, ³²  by saying ³³  that gods made by hands are not gods at all. ³⁴ 

Acts 19:1

Disciples of John the Baptist at Ephesus

19:1 While ³⁵  Apollos was in Corinth, ³⁶  Paul went through the inland ³⁷  regions ³⁸  and came to Ephesus. ³⁹  He ⁴⁰  found some disciples there ⁴¹ 

Acts 6:6-10

6:6 They stood these men before the apostles, who prayed ⁴²  and placed ⁴³  their hands on them. 6:7 The word of God continued to spread, ⁴⁴  the number of disciples in Jerusalem ⁴⁵  increased greatly, and a large group ⁴⁶  of priests became obedient to the faith.

Stephen is Arrested

6:8 Now Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and miraculous signs ⁴⁷  among the people. 6:9 But some men from the Synagogue ⁴⁸  of the Freedmen (as it was called), ⁴⁹  both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, as well as some from Cilicia and the province of Asia, ⁵⁰  stood up and argued with Stephen. 6:10 Yet ⁵¹  they were not able to resist ⁵²  the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.

[1:12]  ¹ tn Heb “lives.” The noun חַיִּים (khayyim, “lives”) functions as an adverbial accusative of manner: “alive.” The form is a plural of state, used to describe a condition of life which encompasses a long period of time – in this case a person’s entire life. Murder cuts short a person’s life.

[1:12]  ² tn The noun שְׁאוֹל (shÿ’ol) can mean (1) “death,” cf. NCV; (2) “the grave,” cf. KJV, NIV, NLT (3) “Sheol” as the realm of departed spirits, cf. NAB “the nether world,” and (4) “extreme danger.” Here it is parallel to the noun בוֹר (vor, “the Pit”) so it is the grave or more likely “Sheol” (cf. ASV, NRSV). Elsewhere Sheol is personified as having an insatiable appetite and swallowing people alive as they descend to their death (e.g., Num 16:30, 33; Isa 5:14; Hab 2:5). In ancient Near Eastern literature, the grave is often personified in similar manner, e.g., in Ugaritic mythological texts Mot (= “death”) is referred to as “the great swallower.”

[1:12]  ³ tn Heb “and whole.” The vav (ו) is asseverative or appositional (“even”); it is omitted in the translation for the sake of style and smoothness. The substantival adjective תָּמִים (tamim, “whole; perfect; blameless”) is an adverbial accusative describing the condition and state of the object. Used in parallel to חַיִּים (khayyim, “alive”), it must mean “full of health” (BDB 1071 s.v. תָּמִים 2). These cutthroats want to murder a person who is full of vigor.

[1:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “find.” The use of the verb מָצָא (matsa’, “to find”) is deliberate understatement to rhetorically down-play the heinous act of thievery.

[1:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “all wealth of preciousness.”

[1:13]  ⁶ tn The noun שָׁלָל (shalal, “plunder”) functions as an adverbial accusative of material: “with plunder.” This term is normally used for the spoils of war (e.g., Deut 20:14; Josh 7:21; Judg 8:24, 25; 1 Sam 30:20) but here refers to “stolen goods” (so NCV, CEV; e.g., Isa 10:2; Prov 16:19; BDB 1022 s.v. 3). The enticement was to join a criminal gang and adopt a life of crime to enjoy ill-gotten gain (A. Cohen, Proverbs, 4). Cf. NAB, NRSV “booty”; TEV “loot.”

[23:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “from your understanding cease.” In the context this means that the person should have enough understanding to stop wearing himself out trying to be rich (cf. NRSV “be wise enough to desist”).

[23:5]  ⁸ tc The Kethib is הֲתָעוּף (hata’uf), “do your eyes fly [light] on it?” The Qere is the Hiphil, הֲתָעִיף (hata’if) “do you cause your eyes to fly on it?” But the line is difficult. The question may be indirect: If you cast your eyes on it, it is gone – when you think you are close, it slips away.

[23:5]  ⁹ sn This seventh saying warns people not to expend all their energy trying to get rich because riches are fleeting (cf. Instruction of Amememope, chap. 7, 9:10-11 which says, “they have made themselves wings like geese and have flown away to heaven”). In the ancient world the symbol of birds flying away signified fleeting wealth.

[28:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a man of faithfulness,” although the context does not indicate this should be limited only to males.

[28:20]  ¹¹ sn The proverb is not rebuking diligent labor. One who is eager to get rich quickly is the opposite of the faithful person. The first person is faithful to God and to the covenant community; the second is trying to get rich as quickly as possible, at the least without doing an honest day’s work and at the worst dishonestly. In a hurry to gain wealth, he falls into various schemes and will pay for it. Tg. Prov 28:20 interprets this to say he hastens through deceit and wrongdoing.

[2:16]  ¹² tn Or (perhaps) “Stop making.”

[2:16]  ¹³ tn Or “a house of merchants” (an allusion to Zech 14:21).

[6:26]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “answered and said to them.”

[6:26]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[6:26]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “because you ate of the loaves of bread and were filled.”

[6:27]  ¹⁷ tn Or “perishes” (this might refer to spoiling, but is more focused on the temporary nature of this kind of food).

[6:27]  ¹⁸ tn The referent (the food) has been specified for clarity by repeating the word “food” from the previous clause.

[6:27]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “on this one.”

[19:24]  ²⁰ tn BDAG 665 s.v. ναός 1.a states, “Specif. of temples: of replicas of the temple of Artemis at Ephesus 19:24…but here, near ἱερόν vs. 27…ναός can be understood in the more restricted sense shrine, where the image of the goddess stood.”

[19:24]  ²¹ sn Artemis was the name of a Greek goddess worshiped particularly in Asia Minor, whose temple, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was located just outside the city of Ephesus.

[19:24]  ²² tn Grk “brought not a little business” (an idiom).

[19:24]  ²³ sn A great deal of business. The charge that Christianity brought economic and/or social upheaval was made a number of times in Acts: 16:20-21; 17:6-7; 18:13.

[19:25]  ²⁴ tn Grk “gathering.” The participle συναθροίσας (sunaqroisa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[19:25]  ²⁵ tn Grk “whom”; because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“whom”) has been replaced with a pronoun (“these”) and a new sentence begun in the translation.

[19:25]  ²⁶ sn Workmen in similar trades. In effect, Demetrius gathered the Ephesian chamber of commerce together to hear about the threat to their prosperity.

[19:25]  ²⁷ tn Another possible meaning is “that this business is an easy way for us to earn a living.”

[19:26]  ²⁸ tn Grk “persuading.” The participle πείσας (peisa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[19:26]  ²⁹ tn Or “misled.”

[19:26]  ³⁰ tn BDAG 472 s.v. ἱκανός 3.a has “of pers. ὄχλος a large crowd…Ac 11:24, 26; 19:26.”

[19:26]  ³¹ map For location see JP1 D2; JP2 D2; JP3 D2; JP4 D2.

[19:26]  ³² tn Grk “Asia”; see the note on this word in v. 22.

[19:26]  ³³ tn The participle λέγων (legwn) has been regarded as indicating instrumentality.

[19:26]  ³⁴ tn The words “at all” are not in the Greek text but are implied.

[19:1]  ³⁵ 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]  ³⁶ map For location see JP1 C2; JP2 C2; JP3 C2; JP4 C2.

[19:1]  ³⁷ tn Or “interior.”

[19:1]  ³⁸ tn BDAG 92 s.v. ἀνωτερικός has “upper τὰ ἀ. μέρη the upper (i.e. inland) country, the interior Ac 19:1.”

[19:1]  ³⁹ map For location see JP1 D2; JP2 D2; JP3 D2; JP4 D2.

[19:1]  ⁴⁰ 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]  ⁴¹ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text but is implied.

[6:6]  ⁴² tn Literally this is a participle in the Greek text (προσευξάμενοι, proseuxamenoi). It could be translated as a finite verb (“and they prayed and placed their hands on them”) but much smoother English results if the entire coordinate clause is converted to a relative clause that refers back to the apostles.

[6:6]  ⁴³ tn Or “laid.”

[6:7]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “kept on spreading”; the verb has been translated as a progressive imperfect.

[6:7]  ⁴⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:7]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “a great multitude.”

[6:8]  ⁴⁷ tn The miraculous nature of these signs is implied in the context. Here the work of miracles extends beyond the Twelve for the first time.

[6:9]  ⁴⁸ sn A synagogue was a place for Jewish prayer and worship, with recognized leadership (cf. Luke 8:41). Though the origin of the synagogue is not entirely clear, it seems to have arisen in the postexilic community during the intertestamental period. A town could establish a synagogue if there were at least ten men. In normative Judaism of the NT period, the OT scripture was read and discussed in the synagogue by the men who were present (see the Mishnah, m. Megillah 3-4; m. Berakhot 2).

[6:9]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “the so-called Synagogue of the Freedmen.” The translation of the participle λεγομένης (legomenh") by the phrase “as it was called” is given by L&N 87.86. “Freedmen” would be slaves who had gained their freedom, or the descendants of such people (BDAG 594-95 s.v. Λιβερτῖνος).

[6:9]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “Asia”; in the NT this always refers to the Roman province of Asia, made up of about one-third of the west and southwest end of modern Asia Minor. Asia lay to the west of the region of Phrygia and Galatia. The words “the province of” are supplied to indicate to the modern reader that this does not refer to the continent of Asia.

[6:10]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “and.” The context, however, indicates that the conjunction carries an adversative force.

[6:10]  ⁵² sn They were not able to resist. This represents another fulfillment of Luke 12:11-12; 21:15.