Acts 6:7

6:7 The word of God continued to spread, ¹  the number of disciples in Jerusalem ²  increased greatly, and a large group ³  of priests became obedient to the faith.

Acts 10:11

10:11 He ⁴  saw heaven ⁵  opened ⁶  and an object something like a large sheet ⁷  descending, ⁸  being let down to earth ⁹  by its four corners.

Acts 17:4

17:4 Some of them were persuaded ¹⁰  and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large group ¹¹  of God-fearing Greeks ¹²  and quite a few ¹³  prominent women.

Acts 22:28

22:28 The commanding officer ¹⁴  answered, “I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money.” ¹⁵  “But I was even ¹⁶  born a citizen,” ¹⁷  Paul replied. ¹⁸ 

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¹ tn Grk “kept on spreading”; the verb has been translated as a progressive imperfect.

² map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

³ tn Grk “a great multitude.”

sn A large group. Many Jews, even some religious leaders, were responding.

⁴ 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.

⁵ tn Or “the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).

⁶ 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.

⁷ tn Or “a large linen cloth” (the term was used for the sail of a ship; BDAG 693 s.v. ὀθόνη).

⁸ tn Or “coming down.”

⁹ tn Or “to the ground.”

¹⁰ tn Or “convinced.”

¹¹ tn Or “a large crowd.”

¹² tn Or “of devout Greeks,” but this is practically a technical term for the category called God-fearers, Gentiles who worshiped the God of Israel and in many cases kept the Mosaic law, but did not take the final step of circumcision necessary to become a proselyte to Judaism. See further K. G. Kuhn, TDNT 6:732-34, 743-44. Luke frequently mentions such people (Acts 13:43, 50; 16:14; 17:17; 18:7).

¹³ tn Grk “not a few”; this use of negation could be misleading to the modern English reader, however, and so has been translated as “quite a few” (which is the actual meaning of the expression).

¹⁴ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 24.

¹⁵ sn Sometimes Roman citizenship was purchased through a bribe (Dio Cassius, Roman History 60.17.4-9). That may well have been the case here.

¹⁶ tn BDAG 495-96 s.v. καί 2.b has “intensive: even…Ac 5:39; 22:28.”

¹⁷ tn The word “citizen” is supplied here for emphasis and clarity.

sn Paul’s reference to being born a citizen suggests he inherited his Roman citizenship from his family.

¹⁸ tn Grk “Paul said.” This phrase has been placed at the end of the sentence in the translation for stylistic reasons.