Acts 3:22

3:22 Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must obey ¹  him in everything he tells you. ² 

Acts 21:20

21:20 When they heard this, they praised ³  God. Then they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews ⁴  there are who have believed, and they are all ardent observers ⁵  of the law. ⁶ 

Acts 26:29

26:29 Paul replied, “I pray to God that whether in a short or a long time ⁷  not only you but also all those who are listening to me today could become such as I am, except for these chains.” ⁸ 

Acts 28:15

28:15 The brothers from there, ⁹  when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius ¹⁰  and Three Taverns ¹¹  to meet us. When he saw them, ¹²  Paul thanked God and took courage.

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¹ tn Grk “hear,” but the idea of “hear and obey” or simply “obey” is frequently contained in the Greek verb ἀκούω (akouw; see L&N 36.14) and the following context (v. 23) makes it clear that failure to “obey” the words of this “prophet like Moses” will result in complete destruction.

² sn A quotation from Deut 18:15. By quoting Deut 18:15 Peter declared that Jesus was the eschatological “prophet like [Moses]” mentioned in that passage, who reveals the plan of God and the way of God.

³ tn Or “glorified.”

⁴ tn Grk “how many thousands there are among the Jews.”

sn How many thousands of Jews. See Acts 2-5 for the accounts of their conversion, esp. 2:41 and 4:4. Estimates of the total number of Jews living in Jerusalem at the time range from 20,000 to 50,000.

⁵ tn Or “are all zealous for the law.” BDAG 427 s.v. ζηλωτής 1.a.β has “of thing…τοῦ νόμου an ardent observer of the law Ac 21:20.”

⁶ sn That is, the law of Moses. These Jewish Christians had remained close to their Jewish practices after becoming believers (1 Cor 7:18-19; Acts 16:3).

⁷ tn BDAG 703 s.v. ὀλίγος 2.b.β has “καὶ ἐν ὀλ. καὶ ἐν μεγάλῳ whether in a short or a long time vs. 29 (cf. B-D-F §195; GWhitaker, The Words of Agrippa to St. Paul: JTS 15, 1914, 82f; AFridrichsen, SymbOsl 14, ’35, 50; Field, Notes 141-43; s. Rob. 653).”

⁸ sn Except for these chains. The chains represented Paul’s unjust suffering for the sake of the message. His point was, in effect, “I do not care how long it takes. I only hope you and everyone else hearing this would become believers in Christ, but without my unjust suffering.”

⁹ sn Mention of Christian brothers from there (Rome) shows that God’s message had already spread as far as Italy and the capital of the empire.

¹⁰ sn The Forum of Appius was a small traveler’s stop on the Appian Way about 43 mi (71 km) south of Rome (BDAG 125 s.v. ᾿Αππίου φόρον). It was described by Horace as “crammed with boatmen and stingy tavernkeepers” (Satires 1.5.3).

¹¹ sn Three Taverns was a stop on the Appian Way 33 mi (55 km) south of Rome.

¹² tn Grk “whom, when he saw [them], Paul.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“whom”) was replaced by the personal pronoun (“them”) and a new sentence begun here in the translation.