“He was led like a sheep to slaughter,
and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he did 2 not open his mouth.
1 tn Grk “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 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.
3 tn The referent (the commanding officer) has been supplied here in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Grk “Giving him permission.” The participle ἐπιτρέψαντος (epitreyanto") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
5 tn Grk “standing.” The participle ἑστώς (Jestws) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
6 tn Or “motioned.”
7 tn γενομένης (genomenhs) has been taken temporally. BDAG 922 s.v. σιγή has “πολλῆς σιγῆς γενομένης when a great silence had fallen = when they had become silent Ac 21:40.”
8 tn Or “spoke out to.” L&N 33.27 has “to address an audience, with possible emphasis upon loudness – ‘to address, to speak out to.’ πολλῆς δέ σιγῆς γενομένης προσεφώνησεν τῇ ᾿Εβραίδι διαλέκτῳ ‘when they were quiet, he addressed them in Hebrew’ Ac 21:40.”
9 tn Grk “in the Hebrew dialect, saying.” This refers to the Aramaic spoken in Palestine in the 1st century (BDAG 270 s.v. ῾Εβραΐς). The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in English and has not been translated.