¹ tn Grk “to take the place.”

² tn Or “of this ministry.”

³ tn Or “the task of this service and apostleship which Judas ceased to perform.”

⁴ sn To go to his own place. This may well be a euphemism for Judas’ judged fate. He separated himself from them, and thus separated he would remain.

⁵ tn Or “who acknowledged the truth of.”

⁶ tn Grk “word.”

⁷ tn Grk “souls” (here an idiom for the whole person).

⁸ tn Or “were won over.”

⁹ tn Traditionally, “The kings of the earth took their stand.”

¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ sn A quotation from Ps 2:1-2.

¹² tn Grk “It happened that after an interval of about three hours.” The introductory 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.

¹³ tn Grk “came in, not knowing.” The participle has been translated with concessive or adversative force: “although she did not know.” In English, the adversative conjunction (“but”) conveys this nuance more smoothly.

¹⁴ tn Grk “This one God exalted” (emphatic).

¹⁵ tn Or “Founder” (of a movement).

¹⁶ tn Or “to give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.”

¹⁷ tn Or “instructed.”

¹⁸ tn Or “was able” (BDAG 264 s.v. δυνατός 1.b.α).

¹⁹ tn Grk “his brothers.”

²⁰ tn Grk “was granting them deliverance.” The narrator explains that this act pictured what Moses could do for his people.

²¹ tn Grk “by his hand,” where the hand is a metaphor for the entire person.

²² sn They did not understand. Here is the theme of the speech. The people did not understand what God was doing through those he chose. They made the same mistake with Joseph at first. See Acts 3:17; 13:27. There is good precedent for this kind of challenging review of history in the ancient scriptures: Ps 106:6-46; Ezek 20; and Neh 9:6-38.

²³ tn Grk “And immediately.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

²⁴ tn The comparison to “scales” suggests a crusty covering which peeled away (cf. BDAG 592 s.v. λεπίς 2).

²⁵ 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 was started, with “and” placed before the final element of the previous clause as required by English style.

²⁶ tn Grk “It happened that for several days.” The introductory 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.

²⁷ tn Or “All the prophets testify about him.” Although modern English translations tend to place “about him” after “testify” (so NIV, NRSV) the phrase “about him” has been left at the beginning of v. 43 for emphatic reasons.

²⁸ sn Forgiveness of sins. See Luke 24:47; also Acts 14:23; 19:4; 9:42; 11:17; 16:31. The gospel is present in the prophetic promise, Rom 1:1-7. The message is in continuity with the ancient hope.

²⁹ tn So BDAG 410 s.v. εὐπορέω.

³⁰ tn Or “determined,” “resolved.”

³¹ tn Grk “to send [something] for a ministry,” but today it is common to speak of sending relief for victims of natural disasters.

sn The financial relief reflects the oneness of the church, meeting the needs of another (even racially distinct) community. Jerusalem, having ministered to them, now received ministry back. A later collection from Greece is noted in Rom 15:25-27, but it reflects the same spirit as this gift.

³² tn This participle, ἀναστάς (anasta"), and the following one, κατασείσας (kataseisa"), are both translated as adverbial participles of attendant circumstance.

³³ tn Or “motioned.”

³⁴ tn Or “Israelite men,” although this is less natural English. The Greek term here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which only exceptionally is used in a generic sense of both males and females. In this context involving an address to a synagogue gathering, it is conceivable that this is a generic usage, although it can also be argued that Paul’s remarks were addressed primarily to the men present, even if women were there.

³⁵ tn Grk “and those who fear God,” but this is practically a technical term for the category called God-fearers, Gentiles who worshiped the God of Israel and in many cases kept the Mosaic law, but did not take the final step of circumcision necessary to become a proselyte to Judaism. See further K. G. Kuhn, TDNT 6:732-34, 743-44.

³⁶ tn Grk “And after.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

³⁷ tn The participle καθελών (kaqelwn) is taken temporally.

³⁸ sn Seven nations. See Deut 7:1.

³⁹ tn Grk “he gave their land as an inheritance.” The words “his people” are supplied to complete an ellipsis specifying the recipients of the land.

⁴⁰ tn Grk “And in.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

⁴¹ sn Lystra was a city in Lycaonia about 18 mi (30 km) south of Iconium.

map For location see JP1 E2; JP2 E2; JP3 E2.

⁴² tn Grk “powerless in his feet,” meaning he was unable to use his feet to walk.

⁴³ tn Grk “lame from his mother’s womb” (an idiom).

sn The description lame from birth makes clear how serious the condition was, and how real it was. This event is very similar to Acts 3:1-10, except here the lame man’s faith is clear from the start.

⁴⁴ sn Simeon is a form of the apostle Peter’s Aramaic name. James uses Peter’s “Jewish” name here.

⁴⁵ tn Or “reported,” “described.”

⁴⁶ tn BDAG 378 s.v. ἐπισκέπτομαι 3 translates this phrase in Acts 15:14, “God concerned himself about winning a people fr. among the nations.”

⁴⁷ tn Grk “to take,” but in the sense of selecting or choosing (accompanied by the preposition ἐκ [ek] plus a genitive specifying the group selected from) see Heb 5:1; also BDAG 584 s.v. λαμβάνω 6.

⁴⁸ sn In the Greek text the expression “from among the Gentiles” is in emphatic position.

⁴⁹ tn Grk “And they.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the continuity with the preceding verse. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style does not.

⁵⁰ sn The word of the Lord is a technical expression in OT literature, often referring to a divine prophetic utterance (e.g., Gen 15:1, Isa 1:10, Jonah 1:1). In the NT it occurs 15 times: 3 times as ῥῆμα τοῦ κυρίου (rJhma tou kuriou; Luke 22:61, Acts 11:16, 1 Pet 1:25) and 12 times as λόγος τοῦ κυρίου (logo" tou kuriou; here and in Acts 8:25; 13:44, 48, 49; 15:35, 36; 19:10, 20; 1 Thess 1:8, 4:15; 2 Thess 3:1). As in the OT, this phrase focuses on the prophetic nature and divine origin of what has been said.

⁵¹ tn That is, with his advisers.

⁵² sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.

⁵³ tn Or “to the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

⁵⁴ tn Or “to the emperor.”

⁵⁵ sn “To Caesar you will go!” In all probability Festus was pleased to send Paul on to Rome and get this political problem out of his court.

⁵⁶ tn Grk “they brought no charge of any of the evil deeds.” BDAG 31 s.v. αἰτία 3.b has “αἰτίαν φέρειν…bring an accusation Ac 25:18.” Since κατήγοροι (kathgoroi, “accusers”) in the previous clause is somewhat redundant with this, “charge” was used instead.

⁵⁷ tn Or “I was expecting.”

⁵⁸ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵⁹ tn Or “stayed.”

⁶⁰ tn Or perhaps, “two whole years at his own expense.” BDAG 654 s.v. μίσθωμα states, “the customary act. mng. ‘contract price, rent’…is not found in our lit. (Ac) and the pass. what is rented, a rented house is a mng. not found outside it (even Ammonius Gramm. [100 ad] p. 93 Valck. knows nothing of it. Hence the transl. at his own expense [NRSV] merits attention) ἐν ἰδίῳ μισθώματι in his own rented lodgings Ac 28:30 (for the idea cp. Jos., Ant. 18, 235).”

⁶¹ tn Or “and received.”