Acts 23:11

23:11 The following night the Lord ¹  stood near ²  Paul ³  and said, “Have courage, ⁴  for just as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, ⁵  so you must also testify in Rome.” ⁶ 

Acts 23:23

23:23 Then ⁷  he summoned ⁸  two of the centurions ⁹  and said, “Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea ¹⁰  along with seventy horsemen ¹¹  and two hundred spearmen ¹²  by ¹³  nine o’clock tonight, ¹⁴ 

Acts 23:32-33

23:32 The next day they let ¹⁵  the horsemen ¹⁶  go on with him, and they returned to the barracks. ¹⁷  23:33 When the horsemen ¹⁸  came to Caesarea ¹⁹  and delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented ²⁰  Paul to him.

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¹ sn The presence of the Lord indicated the vindicating presence and direction of God.

² tn Grk “standing near Paul, said.” The participle ἐπιστάς (epistas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

³ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Or “Do not be afraid.”

⁵ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁶ sn Like Jesus went to Jerusalem, Paul would now go to Rome. This trip forms the concluding backdrop to Acts. This is the second notice about going to Rome (see Acts 19:21 for the first).

map For location see JP4-A1.

⁷ tn Grk “And.” Since this represents a response to the reported ambush, καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the logical sequence.

⁸ tn Grk “summoning…he said.” The participle προσκαλεσάμενος (proskalesameno") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

⁹ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

¹⁰ sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi). See the note on Caesarea in Acts 10:1. This was a journey of about 65 mi (just over 100 km).

map For location see Map2-C1; Map4-B3; Map5-F2; Map7-A1; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹¹ tn Or “cavalrymen.”

¹² tn A military technical term of uncertain meaning. BDAG 217 s.v. δεξιολάβος states, “a word of uncertain mng., military t.t., acc. to Joannes Lydus…and Theophyl. Sim., Hist. 4, 1 a light-armed soldier, perh. bowman, slinger; acc. to a scholion in CMatthaei p. 342 body-guard….Spearman Goodspd., NRSV; ‘security officer’, GDKilpatrick, JTS 14, ’63, 393f.”

sn Two hundred soldiers…along with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen. The resulting force assembled to guard Paul was almost a full cohort. The Roman commander was taking no chances, but was sending the issue up the chain of command to the procurator to decide.

¹³ tn Grk “from.”

¹⁴ tn Grk “from the third hour of the night.”

¹⁵ tn Grk “letting.” The participle ἐάσαντες (easante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

¹⁶ tn Or “cavalrymen.”

¹⁷ tn Or “the headquarters.” BDAG 775 s.v. παρεμβολή 2 has “barracks/headquarters of the Roman troops in Jerusalem Ac 21:34, 37; 22:24; 23:10, 16, 32.”

¹⁸ tn Grk “who, coming to Caesarea.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek construction, a new sentence was begun here in the translation. The relative pronoun (“who”) has been replaced with the referent (the horsemen) in the translation for clarity.

¹⁹ sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi). See the note on Caesarea in Acts 10:1. It was about 30 mi (50 km) from Antipatris.

²⁰ tn BDAG 778 s.v. παρίστημι/παριστάνω 1.b has “present, represent – α. lit. τινά τινι someone to someone παρέστησαν τὸν Παῦλον αὐτῷ Ac 23:33.”