Discovery BoxActs 2:23 
Context2:23 this man, who was handed over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you executed 1 by nailing him to a cross at the hands of Gentiles. 2
Acts 3:25
Context3:25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, 3 saying to Abraham, ‘And in your descendants 4 all the nations 5 of the earth will be blessed.’ 6
Acts 6:7
Context6:7 The word of God continued to spread, 7 the number of disciples in Jerusalem 8 increased greatly, and a large group 9 of priests became obedient to the faith.
Acts 15:10
Context15:10 So now why are you putting God to the test 10 by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke 11 that neither our ancestors 12 nor we have been able to bear?
1 tn Or “you killed.”
2 tn Grk “at the hands of lawless men.” At this point the term ἄνομος (anomo") refers to non-Jews who live outside the Jewish (Mosaic) law, rather than people who broke any or all laws including secular laws. Specifically it is a reference to the Roman soldiers who carried out Jesus’ crucifixion.
3 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
4 tn Or “in your offspring”; Grk “in your seed.”
sn In your descendants (Grk “in your seed”). Seed has an important ambiguity in this verse. The blessing comes from the servant (v. 26), who in turn blesses the responsive children of the covenant as the scripture promised. Jesus is the seed who blesses the seed.
5 tn Or “families.” The Greek word πατριά (patria) can indicate persons of succeeding generations who are related by birth (“lineage,” “family”) but it can also indicate a relatively large unit of people who make up a sociopolitical group and who share a presumed biological descent. In many contexts πατριά is very similar to ἔθνος (eqnos) and λαός (laos). In light of the context of the OT quotation, it is better to translate πατριά as “nations” here.
6 sn A quotation from Gen 22:18.
7 tn Grk “kept on spreading”; the verb has been translated as a progressive imperfect.
8 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
9 tn Grk “a great multitude.”
sn A large group. Many Jews, even some religious leaders, were responding.
10 tn According to BDAG 793 s.v. πειράζω 2.c, “In Ac 15:10 the πειράζειν τὸν θεόν consists in the fact that after God’s will has been clearly made known through granting of the Spirit to the Gentiles (v. 8), some doubt and make trial to see whether God’s will really becomes operative.” All testing of God in Luke is negative: Luke 4:2; 11:16.
11 sn A yoke is a wooden bar or frame that joins two animals like oxen or horses so that they can pull a wagon, plow, etc. together. Here it is used figuratively of the restriction that some in the early church wanted to place on Gentile converts to Christianity of observing the law of Moses and having males circumcised. The yoke is a decidedly negative image: Matt 23:4, but cf. Matt 11:29-30.
12 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
