Acts 11:5

11:5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, an object something like a large sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came to me.

Acts 14:1

Paul and Barnabas at Iconium

14:1 The same thing happened in Iconium when Paul and Barnabas went into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a large group of both Jews and Greeks believed.

Acts 19:19

19:19 Large numbers of those who had practiced magic collected their books 10  and burned them up in the presence of everyone. 11  When 12  the value of the books was added up, it was found to total fifty thousand silver coins. 13 

tn This term describes a supernatural vision and reflects a clear distinction from something imagined (BDAG 718 s.v. ὅραμα 1). Peter repeated the story virtually word for word through v. 13. The repetition with this degree of detail shows the event’s importance.

tn Or “coming down.”

tn Or “the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).

sn Iconium. See the note in 13:51.

tn Grk “they”; the referents (Paul and Barnabas) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

tn Or “that a large crowd.”

tn BDAG 472 s.v. ἱκανός 4.a has “many, quite a few” for ἱκανοί (Jikanoi) in this verse.

tn On this term see BDAG 800 s.v. περίεργος 2.

10 tn Or “scrolls.”

11 tn Or “burned them up publicly.” L&N 14.66 has “‘they brought their books together and burned them up in the presence of everyone’ Ac 19:19.”

12 tn Grk “and when.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.

13 tn Or “fifty thousand silver drachmas” (about $10,000 US dollars). BDAG 128 s.v. ἀργύριον 2.c states, “ἀργυρίου μυριάδας πέντε 50,000 (Attic silver) drachmas Ac 19:19.” Another way to express the value would be in sheep: One drachma could buy one sheep. So this many drachmas could purchase a huge flock of sheep. A drachma also equals a denarius, or a day’s wage for the average worker. So this amount would be equal to 50,000 work days or in excess of 8,300 weeks of labor (the weeks are calculated at six working days because of the Jewish cultural context). The impact of Christianity on the Ephesian economy was considerable (note in regard to this the concerns expressed in 19:26-27).