Acts 26:13-14

26:13 about noon along the road, Your Majesty, 1  I saw a light from heaven, 2  brighter than the sun, shining everywhere around 3  me and those traveling with me. 26:14 When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, 4  ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? You are hurting yourself 5  by kicking against the goads.’ 6 

1 tn Grk “O King.”

2 tn Or “from the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).

3 tn The word “everywhere” has been supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning of περιλάμψαν (perilamyan). Otherwise the modern reader might think that each of the individuals were encircled by lights or halos. See also Acts 9:7; 22:6, 9.

4 tn Grk “in the Hebrew language.” See Acts 22:7 and 9:4.

5 tn Grk “It is hard for you.”

6 tn “Goads” are pointed sticks used to direct a draft animal (an idiom for stubborn resistance). See BDAG 539-40 s.v. κέντρον 2.

sn Sayings which contain the imagery used here (kicking against the goads) were also found in Greek writings; see Pindar, Pythians 2.94-96; Euripides, Bacchae 795.