15:16 ‘After this 11 I 12 will return,
and I will rebuild the fallen tent 13 of David;
I will rebuild its ruins and restore 14 it,
28:11 After three months we put out to sea 15 in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered at the island and had the “Heavenly Twins” 16 as its figurehead. 17
1 tn Grk “Whom God raised up.”
2 tn Or “having freed.”
3 sn The term translated pains is frequently used to describe pains associated with giving birth (see Rev 12:2). So there is irony here in the mixed metaphor.
4 tn Or “for him to be held by it” (in either case, “it” refers to death’s power).
5 tn Grk “And he.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.
6 tn Or “the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).
7 tn On the heavens “opening,” see Matt 3:16; Luke 3:21; Rev 19:11 (cf. BDAG 84 s.v. ἀνοίγω 2). This is the language of a vision or a revelatory act of God.
8 tn Or “a large linen cloth” (the term was used for the sail of a ship; BDAG 693 s.v. ὀθόνη).
9 tn Or “coming down.”
10 tn Or “to the ground.”
11 tn Grk “After these things.”
12 sn The first person pronoun I refers to God and his activity. It is God who is doing this.
13 tn Or more generally, “dwelling”; perhaps, “royal tent.” According to BDAG 928 s.v. σκηνή the word can mean “tent” or “hut,” or more generally “lodging” or “dwelling.” In this verse (a quotation from Amos 9:11) BDAG refers this to David’s ruined kingdom; it is possibly an allusion to a king’s tent (a royal tent). God is at work to reestablish David’s line (Acts 2:30-36; 13:32-39).
14 tn BDAG 86 s.v. ἀνορθόω places this verb under the meaning “to build someth. up again after it has fallen, rebuild, restore,” but since ἀνοικοδομέω (anoikodomew, “rebuild”) has occurred twice in this verse already, “restore” is used here.
15 tn BDAG 62 s.v. ἀνάγω 4, “as a nautical t.t. (ἀ. τὴν ναῦν put a ship to sea), mid. or pass. ἀνάγεσθαι to begin to go by boat, put out to sea.”
16 tn Or “the ‘Twin Gods’”; Grk “the Dioscuri” (a joint name for the pagan deities Castor and Pollux).
sn That had the ‘Heavenly Twins’ as its figurehead. The twin brothers Castor and Pollux, known collectively as the Dioscuri or ‘Heavenly Twins,’ were the twin sons of Zeus and Leda according to Greek mythology. The Alexandrian ship on which Paul and his companions sailed from Malta had a carved emblem or figurehead of these figures, and they would have been the patron deities of the vessel. Castor and Pollux were the “gods of navigation.” To see their stars was considered a good omen (Epictetus, Discourses 2.18.29; Lucian of Samosata, The Ship 9).
17 tn Or “as its emblem.”