Acts 20:22-24

20:22 And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem without knowing what will happen to me there, 20:23 except that the Holy Spirit warns me in town after town that imprisonment and persecutions 10  are waiting for me. 20:24 But I do not consider my life 11  worth anything 12  to myself, so that 13  I may finish my task 14  and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news 15  of God’s grace.


tn Grk “And now, behold.” Here ἰδού (idou) has not been translated.

tn Grk “bound.”

sn This journey to Jerusalem suggests a parallel between Paul and Jesus, since the “Jerusalem journey” motif figures so prominently in Luke’s Gospel (9:51-19:44).

tn BDAG 965 s.v. συναντάω 2 has τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ συναντήσοντα ἐμοὶ μὴ εἰδώς without knowing what will happen to me there Ac 20:22.”

tn BDAG 826 s.v. πλήν 1.d has “πλὴν ὅτι except thatAc 20:23.”

tn The verb διαμαρτύρομαι (diamarturomai) can mean “warn” (BDAG 233 s.v. διαμαρτύρομαι 2 has “solemnly urge, exhort, warn…w. dat. of pers. addressed”), and this meaning better fits the context here, although BDAG categorizes Acts 20:23 under the meaning “testify of, bear witness to” (s.v. 1).

tn The Greek text here reads κατὰ πόλιν (kata polin).

tn Grk “saying that,” but the participle λέγον (legon) is redundant in English and has not been translated.

tn Grk “bonds.”

10 tn Or “troubles,” “suffering.” See Acts 19:21; 21:4, 11.

11 tn Grk “soul.”

12 tn Or “I do not consider my life worth a single word.” According to BDAG 599 s.v. λόγος 1.a.α, “In the textually uncertain pass. Ac 20:24 the text as it stands in N., οὐδενὸς λόγου (v.l. λόγον) ποιοῦμαι τὴν ψυχὴν τιμίαν, may well mean: I do not consider my life worth a single word (cp. λόγου ἄξιον [ἄξιος 1a] and our ‘worth mention’).”

13 tn BDAG 1106 s.v. ὡς 9 describes this use as “a final particle, expressing intention/purpose, with a view to, in order to.”

14 tn Grk “course.” See L&N 42.26, “(a figurative extension of meaning of δρόμος ‘race’) a task or function involving continuity, serious, effort, and possibly obligation – ‘task, mission’…Ac 20:24.” On this Pauline theme see also Phil 1:19-26; Col 1:24; 2 Tim 4:6-7.

15 tn Or “to the gospel.”