9:10 Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The 5 Lord 6 said to him in a vision, “Ananias,” and he replied, “Here I am, 7 Lord.”
13:41 ‘Look, you scoffers; be amazed and perish! 10
For I am doing a work in your days,
a work you would never believe, even if someone tells you.’” 11
1 tn Or “ancestors”; Grk “fathers.”
2 tn Grk “and Isaac,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.
3 sn A quotation from Exod 3:6. The phrase suggests the God of promise, the God of the nation.
4 tn Or “to investigate,” “to contemplate” (BDAG 522 s.v. κατανοέω 2).
5 tn Grk “And the.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
6 sn The Lord is directing all the events leading to the expansion of the gospel as he works on both sides of the meeting between Paul and Ananias. “The Lord” here refers to Jesus (see v. 17).
7 tn Grk “behold, I,” but this construction often means “here is/there is” (cf. BDAG 468 s.v. ἰδού 2).
8 tn Grk “Peter going down to the men, said.” The participle καταβάς (katabas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
9 tn Grk “Behold, it is I whom you seek,” or “Behold, I am the one you seek.” “Here I am” is used to translate ἰδοὺ ἐγώ εἰμι (idou egw eimi).
10 tn Or “and die!”
11 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.
12 tn BDAG 772 s.v. παρατίθημι 2.b has “demonstrate, point out” here.
13 tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”
sn See the note on Christ in 2:31.
14 sn The Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead. These two points (suffering and resurrection) would have been among the more controversial aspects of Paul’s messianic preaching. The term translated “had to” (δεῖ, dei) shows how divine design and scripture corresponded here.
15 tn The Greek words used here (καὶ ὅτι, kai {oti, “and that”) mark the switch from indirect to direct discourse. Contemporary English requires the use of an introductory verb of speaking or saying to make this transition.
16 tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”
sn See the note on Christ in 2:31. The identification of the Messiah with Jesus indicates Paul was proclaiming the fulfillment of messianic promise.
17 tn BDAG 384 s.v. ἐπιτίθημι 2 has “to set upon, attack, lay a hand on” here, but “assault” is a contemporary English equivalent very close to the meaning of the original.
18 tn Or “injure.”
19 tn Grk “answered and said to them.” The expression, redundant in English, has been simplified to “replied.”
20 tn Grk “Jesus I know about.” Here ᾿Ιησοῦν (Ihsoun) is in emphatic position in Greek, but placing the object first is not normal in contemporary English style.
21 tn BDAG 380 s.v. ἐπίσταμαι 2 has “know, be acquainted with τινά…τὸν Παῦλον Ac 19:15.” Here the translation “be acquainted with” was used to differentiate from the previous phrase which has γινώσκω (ginwskw).
22 sn But who are you? This account shows how the power of Paul was so distinct that parallel claims to access that power were denied. In fact, such manipulation, by those who did not know Jesus, was judged (v. 16). The indirect way in which the exorcists made the appeal shows their distance from Jesus.
23 tn Grk “said.”
24 tn Grk “a Jewish man.”
25 tn Grk “of a not insignificant city.” The double negative, common in Greek, is awkward in English and has been replaced by a corresponding positive expression (BDAG 142 s.v. ἄσημος 1).
26 tn Grk “I beg you.”
27 tn BDAG 433 s.v. ἤ 2.c has “οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἤ nothing else than…Ac 17:21. τί…ἤ what other…than…24:21.”
28 tn Grk “one utterance.”
29 tn Cf. BDAG 327 s.v. ἐν 1.e, which has “before, in the presence of, etc.”
30 sn The resurrection of the dead. Paul’s point was, what crime was there in holding this religious belief?
31 sn The hope of Israel. A reference to Israel’s messianic hope. Paul’s preaching was in continuity with this Jewish hope (Acts 1:3; 8:12; 14:22; 19:8; 20:25).