Discovery BoxActs 10:11 
Context10:11 He 1 saw heaven 2 opened 3 and an object something like a large sheet 4 descending, 5 being let down to earth 6 by its four corners.
Acts 10:17
Context10:17 Now while Peter was puzzling over 7 what the vision he had seen could signify, the men sent by Cornelius had learned where Simon’s house was 8 and approached 9 the gate.
1 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.
2 tn Or “the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).
3 tn On the heavens “opening,” see Matt 3:16; Luke 3:21; Rev 19:11 (cf. BDAG 84 s.v. ἀνοίγω 2). This is the language of a vision or a revelatory act of God.
4 tn Or “a large linen cloth” (the term was used for the sail of a ship; BDAG 693 s.v. ὀθόνη).
5 tn Or “coming down.”
6 tn Or “to the ground.”
7 tn Or “was greatly confused over.” The term means to be perplexed or at a loss (BDAG 235 s.v. διαπορέω).
8 tn Grk “having learned.” The participle διερωτήσαντες (dierwthsante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
9 tn BDAG 418 s.v. ἐφίστημι 1 has “ἐπί τι approach or stand by someth. (Sir 41:24) Ac 10:17.”
sn As Peter puzzled over the meaning of the vision, the messengers from Cornelius approached the gate. God’s direction here had a sense of explanatory timing.
