Discovery BoxActs 10:33 
Context10:33 Therefore I sent for you at once, and you were kind enough to come. 1 So now we are all here in the presence of God 2 to listen 3 to everything the Lord has commanded you to say to us.” 4
Acts 17:23
Context17:23 For as I went around and observed closely your objects of worship, 5 I even found an altar with this inscription: 6 ‘To an unknown god.’ Therefore what you worship without knowing it, 7 this I proclaim to you.
Acts 25:26
Context25:26 But I have nothing definite 8 to write to my lord 9 about him. 10 Therefore I have brought him before you all, and especially before you, King Agrippa, 11 so that after this preliminary hearing 12 I may have something to write.
1 tn Grk “you have done well by coming.” The idiom καλῶς ποιεῖν (kalw" poiein) is translated “be kind enough to do someth.” by BDAG 505-6 s.v. καλῶς 4.a. The participle παραγενόμενος (paragenomeno") has been translated as an English infinitive due to the nature of the English idiom (“kind enough to” + infinitive).
2 tn The translation “we are here in the presence of God” for ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ πάρεσμεν (enwpion tou qeou paresmen) is given by BDAG 773 s.v. πάρειμι 1.a.
3 tn Or “to hear everything.”
4 tn The words “to say to us” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Cornelius knows Peter is God’s representative, bringing God’s message.
5 tn Or “your sanctuaries.” L&N 53.54 gives “sanctuary” (place of worship) as an alternate meaning for the word σεβάσματα (sebasmata).
6 tn Grk “on which was written,” but since it would have been carved in stone, it is more common to speak of an “inscription” in English. To simplify the English the relative construction with a passive verb (“on which was inscribed”) was translated as a prepositional phrase with a substantive (“inscription”).
7 tn BDAG 13 s.v. ἀγνοέω 1.b has “Abs. ὅ ἀγνοοῦντες εὐσεβεῖτε what you worship without knowing it (on the subject matter Maximus Tyr. 11, 5e: all sorts of philosophers ἴσασιν οὐκ ἑκόντες καὶ λέγουσιν ἄκοντες sc. τὸ θεῖον = they know and name God without intending to do so) Ac 17:23.” Paul, in typical Jewish Christian style, informs them of the true God, of whom their idols are an ignorant reflection.
8 sn There is irony here. How can Festus write anything definite about Paul, if he is guilty of nothing.
9 sn To my lord means “to His Majesty the Emperor.”
10 tn Grk “about whom I have nothing definite…” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“whom”) was replaced with a personal pronoun (“him”) and a new sentence begun in the translation at the beginning of v. 26.
11 sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.
12 tn Or “investigation.” BDAG 66 s.v. ἀνάκρισις has “a judicial hearing, investigation, hearing, esp. preliminary hearing…τῆς ἀ. γενομένης Ac 25:26.” This is technical legal language.
