13:9 “You must watch out for yourselves. You will be handed over 3 to councils 4 and beaten in the synagogues. 5 You will stand before governors and kings 6 because of me, as a witness to them.
1 tn Or “Be on guard.”
2 tn That is, “I am the Messiah.”
3 tn Grk “They will hand you over.” “They” is an indefinite plural, referring to people in general. The parallel in Matt 10:17 makes this explicit.
4 sn Councils in this context refers to local judicial bodies attached to the Jewish synagogue. This group would be responsible for meting out justice and discipline within the Jewish community.
5 sn See the note on synagogue in 1:21.
6 sn These statements look at persecution both from a Jewish context as the mention of councils and synagogues suggests, and from a Gentile one as the reference to governors and kings suggests. Some fulfillment of Jewish persecution can be seen in Acts.