5:5 When Ananias heard these words he collapsed and died, and great fear gripped 1 all who heard about it.
28:11 After three months we put out to sea 25 in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered at the island and had the “Heavenly Twins” 26 as its figurehead. 27
1 tn Or “fear came on,” “fear seized”; Grk “fear happened to.”
2 tn Grk “And he.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.
3 tn Or “the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).
4 tn On the heavens “opening,” see Matt 3:16; Luke 3:21; Rev 19:11 (cf. BDAG 84 s.v. ἀνοίγω 2). This is the language of a vision or a revelatory act of God.
5 tn Or “a large linen cloth” (the term was used for the sail of a ship; BDAG 693 s.v. ὀθόνη).
6 tn Or “coming down.”
7 tn Or “to the ground.”
8 sn After the reading from the law and the prophets. In the 1st century Jewish synagogue, it was customary after the reading of the Torah (law) and prophets for men to give exhortation from the scriptures.
9 tn Normally ἀρχισυνάγωγος (arcisunagwgo") refers to the “president of a synagogue” (so BDAG 139 s.v. and L&N 53.93). Since the term is plural here, however, and it would sound strange to the English reader to speak of “the presidents of the synagogue,” the alternative translation “leaders” is used. “Rulers” would also be acceptable, but does not convey quite the same idea.
10 tn Grk “sent to them”; the word “message” is an understood direct object. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.
11 tn Grk “Men brothers,” but this is both awkward and unnecessary in English.
12 tn Or “word.”
13 tn Or “encouragement.”
14 tn Or “give it.”
15 tn Or “people of Israel.”
16 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
sn Note how Paul identifies with his audience by referring to our ancestors. He speaks as a Jew. God’s design in history is the theme of the speech. The speech is like Stephen’s, only here the focus is on a promised Son of David.
17 tn That is, in both numbers and in power. The implication of greatness in both numbers and in power is found in BDAG 1046 s.v. ὑψόω 2.
18 tn Or “as resident aliens.”
19 tn Or “land.”
20 sn Here uplifted arm is a metaphor for God’s power by which he delivered the Israelites from Egypt. See Exod 6:1, 6; 32:11; Deut 3:24; 4:34; Ps 136:11-12.
21 sn Cyprus is a large island in the Mediterranean off the south coast of Asia Minor.
22 sn The expression left it behind on our port side here means “sailed past to the south of it” since the ship was sailing east.
23 tn BDAG 531 s.v. κατέρχομαι 2 states, “arrive, put in, nautical t.t. of ships and those who sail in them, who ‘come down’ fr. the ‘high seas’…ἔις τι at someth. a harbor 18:22; 21:3; 27:5.”
24 sn Tyre was a city and seaport on the coast of Phoenicia. From Patara to Tyre was about 400 mi (640 km). It required a large cargo ship over 100 ft (30 m) long, and was a four to five day voyage.
map For location see Map1-A2; Map2-G2; Map4-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.
25 tn BDAG 62 s.v. ἀνάγω 4, “as a nautical t.t. (ἀ. τὴν ναῦν put a ship to sea), mid. or pass. ἀνάγεσθαι to begin to go by boat, put out to sea.”
26 tn Or “the ‘Twin Gods’”; Grk “the Dioscuri” (a joint name for the pagan deities Castor and Pollux).
sn That had the ‘Heavenly Twins’ as its figurehead. The twin brothers Castor and Pollux, known collectively as the Dioscuri or ‘Heavenly Twins,’ were the twin sons of Zeus and Leda according to Greek mythology. The Alexandrian ship on which Paul and his companions sailed from Malta had a carved emblem or figurehead of these figures, and they would have been the patron deities of the vessel. Castor and Pollux were the “gods of navigation.” To see their stars was considered a good omen (Epictetus, Discourses 2.18.29; Lucian of Samosata, The Ship 9).
27 tn Or “as its emblem.”