Acts 5:40-42

5:40 and they summoned the apostles and had them beaten. ¹  Then ²  they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and released them. 5:41 So they left the council rejoicing because they had been considered worthy ³  to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name. ⁴  5:42 And every day both in the temple courts ⁵  and from house to house, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the good news ⁶  that Jesus was the Christ. ⁷ 

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¹ sn Had them beaten. The punishment was the “forty lashes minus one,” see also Acts 22:19; 2 Cor 11:24; Mark 13:9. The apostles had disobeyed the religious authorities and took their punishment for their “disobedience” (Deut 25:2-3; m. Makkot 3:10-14). In Acts 4:18 they were warned. Now they are beaten. The hostility is rising as the narrative unfolds.

² tn The word “Then” is supplied as the beginning of a new sentence in the translation. The construction in Greek has so many clauses (most of them made up of participles) that a continuous English sentence would be very awkward.

³ sn That is, considered worthy by God. They “gloried in their shame” of honoring Jesus with their testimony (Luke 6:22-23; 2 Macc 6:30).

⁴ sn The name refers to the name of Jesus (cf. 3 John 7).

⁵ tn Grk “temple.” This is actually a reference to the courts surrounding the temple proper and has been translated accordingly.

⁶ tn Grk “teaching and evangelizing.” They were still obeying God, not men (see 4:18-20; 5:29).

⁷ 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.