8:9 Now in that city was a man named Simon, who had been practicing magic 3 and amazing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great.
13:41 ‘Look, you scoffers; be amazed and perish! 6
For I am doing a work in your days,
a work you would never believe, even if someone tells you.’” 7
1 tn Grk “the temple.” This is actually a reference to the courts surrounding the temple proper, and has been translated accordingly.
2 sn Obeying God (see v. 29), the apostles were teaching again (4:18-20; 5:20). They did so despite the risk.
3 tn On the idiom προϋπῆρχεν μαγεύων (prouphrcen mageuwn) meaning “had been practicing magic” see BDAG 889 s.v. προϋπάρχω.
4 tn Grk “He”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Grk “How am I able, unless…” The translation is based on the force of the conjunction γάρ (gar) in this context. The translation “How in the world can I?” is given in BDAG 189 s.v. γάρ 1.f.
6 tn Or “and die!”
7 sn A quotation from Hab 1:5. The irony in the phrase even if someone tells you, of course, is that Paul has now told them. So the call in the warning is to believe or else face the peril of being scoffers whom God will judge. The parallel from Habakkuk is that the nation failed to see how Babylon’s rising to power meant perilous judgment for Israel.