Discovery BoxActs 15:3 
Context15:3 So they were sent on their way by the church, and as they passed through both Phoenicia 1 and Samaria, they were relating at length 2 the conversion of the Gentiles and bringing great joy 3 to all the brothers.
Acts 15:8
Context15:8 And God, who knows the heart, 4 has testified 5 to them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, 6
Acts 15:14
Context15:14 Simeon 7 has explained 8 how God first concerned himself 9 to select 10 from among the Gentiles 11 a people for his name.
1 sn Phoenicia was an area along the Mediterranean coast north of Palestine in ancient Syria.
2 tn L&N 33.201 indicates that ἐκδιηγέομαι (ekdihgeomai) means to provide detailed information in a systematic manner, “to inform, to relate, to tell fully.” “Relating at length” conveys this effectively in the present context.
3 tn For ἐποίουν (epoioun) in this verse BDAG 839 s.v. ποιέω 2.c has “they brought joy to the members.”
4 sn The expression who knows the heart means “who knows what people think.”
5 tn Or “has borne witness.”
6 sn By giving them…just as he did to us. The allusion is to the events of Acts 10-11, esp. 10:44-48 and Peter’s remarks in 11:15-18.
7 sn Simeon is a form of the apostle Peter’s Aramaic name. James uses Peter’s “Jewish” name here.
8 tn Or “reported,” “described.”
9 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.”
10 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.
11 sn In the Greek text the expression “from among the Gentiles” is in emphatic position.
