Acts 23:15

23:15 So now you and the council ¹  request the commanding officer ²  to bring him down to you, as if you were going to determine ³  his case ⁴  by conducting a more thorough inquiry. ⁵  We are ready to kill him ⁶  before he comes near this place.” ⁷ 

Acts 23:21

23:21 So do not let them persuade you to do this, ⁸  because more than forty of them ⁹  are lying in ambush ¹⁰  for him. They ¹¹  have bound themselves with an oath ¹²  not to eat or drink anything ¹³  until they have killed him, and now they are ready, waiting for you to agree to their request.” ¹⁴ 

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¹ tn Grk “the Sanhedrin” (the Sanhedrin was the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews).

² tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 10.

³ tn Or “decide.” BDAG 227 s.v. διαγινώσκω has “ἀκριβέστερον τὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ to make a more thorough examination of his case Ac 23:15.”

⁴ tn Grk “determine the things about him.”

⁵ tn The expression “more thorough inquiry” reflects the comparative form of ἀκριβέστερον (akribesteron).

⁶ sn “We are ready to kill him.” Now those Jews involved in the conspiracy, along with the leaders as accomplices, are going to break one of the ten commandments.

⁷ tn The words “this place” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

⁸ tn Grk “do not be persuaded by them.” The passive construction μὴ πεισθῇς αὐτοῖς (mh peisqh" autoi") has been converted to an active construction in the translation, and the phrase “to do this” supplied to indicate more clearly the object of their persuasion.

⁹ tn Grk “forty men of them.” In the expression ἐξ αὐτῶν ἄνδρες (ex autwn andre") “men” is somewhat redundant and has not been included in the English translation.

¹⁰ tn Grk “are lying in wait for him” (BDAG 334 s.v. ἐνεδρεύω); see also v. 16.

¹¹ tn Grk “for him, who.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“who”) was translated by the third person plural pronoun (“they”) and a new sentence begun in the translation.

¹² tn Or “bound themselves under a curse.” BDAG 63 s.v. ἀναθεματίζω 1 has “trans. put under a curse τινά someone… ἀ. ἑαυτόν vss. 12, 21, 13 v.l.”

¹³ tn The word “anything” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

¹⁴ tn Grk “waiting for your approval,” “waiting for your agreement.” Since it would be possible to misunderstand the literal translation “waiting for your approval” to mean that the Jews were waiting for the commander’s approval to carry out their plot or to kill Paul (as if he were to be an accomplice to their plot), the object of the commander’s approval (their request to bring Paul to the council) has been specified in the translation as “their request.”