Acts 11:5

11:5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, ¹  an object something like a large sheet descending, ²  being let down from heaven ³  by its four corners, and it came to me.

Acts 17:29

17:29 So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity ⁴  is like gold or silver or stone, an image ⁵  made by human ⁶  skill ⁷  and imagination. ⁸ 

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¹ 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.

² tn Or “coming down.”

³ tn Or “the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).

⁴ tn Or “the divine being.” BDAG 446 s.v. θεῖος 1.b has “divine being, divinity” here.

⁵ tn Or “a likeness.” Again idolatry is directly attacked as an affront to God and a devaluation of him.

⁶ tn Grk “by the skill and imagination of man,” but ἀνθρώπου (anqrwpou) has been translated as an attributive genitive.

⁷ tn Or “craftsmanship” (cf. BDAG 1001 s.v. τέχνη).

⁸ tn Or “thought.” BDAG 336 s.v. ἐνθύμησις has “thought, reflection, idea” as the category of meaning here, but in terms of creativity (as in the context) the imaginative faculty is in view.