Acts 9:3-5

9:3 As he was going along, approaching 1  Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed 2  around him. 9:4 He 3  fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, 4  why are you persecuting me?” 5  9:5 So he said, “Who are you, Lord?” He replied, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting!

Acts 9:17

9:17 So Ananias departed and entered the house, placed 6  his hands on Saul 7  and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came here, 8  has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 9 

1 tn Grk “As he was going along, it happened that when he was approaching.” The phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

2 tn Or “shone” (BDAG 799 s.v. περιαστράπτω). The light was more brilliant than the sun according to Acts 26:13.

3 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.

4 tn The double vocative suggests emotion.

5 sn Persecuting me. To persecute the church is to persecute Jesus.

6 tn Grk “and placing his hands on Saul, he said.” The participle ἐπιθείς (epiqei") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. For the same reason καί (kai) has not been translated before the participle.

7 tn Grk “on him”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

8 tn Grk “on the road in which you came,” but the relative clause makes for awkward English style, so it was translated as a temporal clause (“as you came here”).

9 sn Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Here someone who is not an apostle (Ananias) commissions another person with the Spirit.