Acts 8:30-35

8:30 So Philip ran up ¹  to it ²  and heard the man ³  reading Isaiah the prophet. He ⁴  asked him, ⁵  “Do you understand what you’re reading?” 8:31 The man ⁶  replied, “How in the world can I, ⁷  unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 8:32 Now the passage of scripture the man ⁸  was reading was this:

“He was led like a sheep to slaughter,

and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,

so he did ⁹  not open his mouth.

8:33 In humiliation ¹⁰  justice was taken from him. ¹¹ 

Who can describe his posterity? ¹² 

For his life was taken away ¹³  from the earth.” ¹⁴ 

8:34 Then the eunuch said ¹⁵  to Philip, “Please tell me, ¹⁶  who is the prophet saying this about – himself or someone else?” ¹⁷  8:35 So Philip started speaking, ¹⁸  and beginning with this scripture ¹⁹  proclaimed the good news about Jesus to him.

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¹ tn The participle προσδραμών (prosdramwn) is regarded as attendant circumstance.

² tn The words “to it” are not in the Greek text but are implied.

³ tn Grk “heard him”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

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 Grk “he said”; but since what follows is a question, it is better English style to translate the introduction to the question “he asked him.”

⁶ tn Grk “He”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ 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.

⁸ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁹ tn Grk “does.” The present tense here was translated as a past tense to maintain consistency with the first line of the quotation (“he was led like a sheep to slaughter”), which has an aorist passive verb normally translated as a past tense in English.

¹⁰ tc ‡ Most later mss (C E Ψ 33^vid Ï sy) read “In his humiliation,” adding αὐτοῦ (autou, “his”) after ταπεινώσει (tapeinwsei, “humiliation”), while the earlier and better witnesses lack the pronoun (so Ì⁷⁴ א A B 1739 pc lat). However, the LXX of Isa 53:8 also lacks the pronoun, supplying motivation for scribes to omit it here. At the same time, scribes would also be motivated to add the pronoun both for clarity’s sake (note the similar impulse that led to the addition of δέ [de] by many of the same mss at the beginning of the next line) and to give balance to the lines (the pronoun is indisputably used five other times in vv. 32-33 in quoting Isa 53). On balance, the shorter reading is preferred.

¹¹ tn Or “justice was denied him”; Grk “his justice was taken away.”

¹² tn Or “family; or “origin.” The meaning of γενεά (genea) in the quotation is uncertain; BDAG 192 s.v. γενεά 4 suggests “family history.”

sn The rhetorical question suggests the insensitivity of this generation for its act against God’s servant, who was slain unjustly as he was silent.

¹³ tn Grk “is taken away.” The present tense here was translated as a past tense to maintain consistency with the rest of the quotation.

¹⁴ sn A quotation from Isa 53:7-8.

¹⁵ tn Grk “answered and said.” The redundant participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqei") has not been translated.

¹⁶ tn Grk “I beg you,” “I ask you.”

¹⁷ sn About himself, or about someone else? It is likely in 1st century Judaism this would have been understood as either Israel or Isaiah.

¹⁸ tn Grk “opening his mouth” (a Semitic idiom for beginning to speak in a somewhat formal manner). The participle ἀνοίξας (anoixa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

¹⁹ sn Beginning with this scripture. The discussion likely included many of the scriptures Acts has already noted for the reader in earlier speeches. At the least, readers of Acts would know what other scriptures might be meant.