Acts 3:1

Peter and John Heal a Lame Man at the Temple

3:1 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time 1  for prayer, 2  at three o’clock in the afternoon. 3 

Acts 10:3

10:3 About three o’clock one afternoon 4  he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God 5  who came in 6  and said to him, “Cornelius.”

1 tn Grk “hour.”

2 sn Going up to the temple at the time for prayer. The earliest Christians, being of Jewish roots, were still participating in the institutions of Judaism at this point. Their faith in Christ did not make them non-Jewish in their practices.

3 tn Grk “at the ninth hour.” This is calculated from sunrise (Josephus, Ant. 14.4.3 [14.65]; Dan 9:21).

4 tn Grk “at about the ninth hour of the day.” This would be the time for afternoon prayer.

5 tn Or “the angel of God.” Linguistically, “angel of God” is the same in both testaments (and thus, he is either “an angel of God” or “the angel of God” in both testaments). For arguments and implications, see ExSyn 252; M. J. Davidson, “Angels,” DJG, 9; W. G. MacDonald argues for “an angel” in both testaments: “Christology and ‘The Angel of the Lord’,” Current Issues in Biblical and Patristic Interpretation, 324-35.

6 tn The participles εἰσελθόντα (eiselqonta) and εἰπόντα (eiponta) are accusative, and thus best taken as adjectival participles modifying ἄγγελον (angelon): “an angel who came in and said.”