10:44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on 2 all those who heard the message. 3
18:12 Now while Gallio 4 was proconsul 5 of Achaia, 6 the Jews attacked Paul together 7 and brought him before the judgment seat, 8
19:1 While 9 Apollos was in Corinth, 10 Paul went through the inland 11 regions 12 and came to Ephesus. 13 He 14 found some disciples there 15
21:10 While we remained there for a number of days, 16 a prophet named Agabus 17 came down from Judea.
26:12 “While doing this very thing, 18 as I was going 19 to Damascus with authority and complete power 20 from the chief priests,
1 tn The traditional translation, “he fell into a trance,” is somewhat idiomatic; it is based on the textual variant ἐπέπεσεν (epepesen, “he fell”) found in the Byzantine text but almost certainly not original.
2 tn Or “came down on.” God now acted to confirm the point of Peter’s speech.
3 tn Or “word.”
4 sn Gallio was proconsul of Achaia from
5 sn The proconsul was the Roman official who ruled over a province traditionally under the control of the Roman senate.
6 sn Achaia was a Roman province created in 146
7 tn Grk “with one accord.”
8 tn Although BDAG 175 s.v. βῆμα 3 gives the meaning “tribunal” for this verse and a number of modern translations use similar terms (“court,” NIV; “tribunal,” NRSV), there is no need for an alternative translation here since the bema was a standard feature in Greco-Roman cities of the time.
sn The judgment seat (βῆμα, bhma) was a raised platform mounted by steps and sometimes furnished with a seat, used by officials in addressing an assembly or making pronouncements, often on judicial matters. The judgment seat was a familiar item in Greco-Roman culture, often located in the agora, the public square or marketplace in the center of a city. So this was a very public event.
9 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.
10 map For location see JP1-C2; JP2-C2; JP3-C2; JP4-C2.
11 tn Or “interior.”
12 tn BDAG 92 s.v. ἀνωτερικός has “upper τὰ ἀ. μέρη the upper (i.e. inland) country, the interior Ac 19:1.”
13 map For location see JP1-D2; JP2-D2; JP3-D2; JP4-D2.
14 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.
15 tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text but is implied.
16 tn BDAG 848 s.v. πολύς 1.b.α has “ἐπὶ ἡμέρας πλείους for a (large) number of days, for many days…Ac 13:31. – 21:10…24:17; 25:14; 27:20.”
17 sn Agabus also appeared in Acts 11:28. He was from Jerusalem, so the two churches were still in contact with one another.
18 tn Grk “in which [activity].” Due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 12 in the translation. The referent of the relative pronoun (“which”) was specified as “this very thing” for clarity.
19 tn Grk “going.” The participle πορευόμενος (poreuomenos) has been taken temporally.
20 tn L&N 37.40 s.v. ἐπιτροπή states, “the full authority to carry out an assignment or commission – ‘authority, complete power.’ πορευόμενος εἰς τὴν Δαμασκὸν μετ᾿ ἐξουσίας καὶ ἐπιτροπῆς τῶν ἀρχιερέων ‘going to Damascus with authority and complete power from the high priests’ Ac 26:12. In Ac 26:12 the combination of ἐξουσία and ἐπιτροπή serves to reinforce the sense of complete authority.”