Discovery BoxActs 2:3 
Context2:3 And tongues spreading out like a fire 1 appeared to them and came to rest on each one of them.
Acts 4:3
Context4:3 So 2 they seized 3 them and put them in jail 4 until the next day (for it was already evening).
Acts 4:18
Context4:18 And they called them in and ordered 5 them not to speak or teach at all in the name 6 of Jesus.
Acts 5:22
Context5:22 But the officers 7 who came for them 8 did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, 9
Acts 13:3
Context13:3 Then, after they had fasted 10 and 11 prayed and placed their hands 12 on them, they sent them off.
Acts 14:5
Context14:5 When both the Gentiles and the Jews (together with their rulers) made 13 an attempt to mistreat 14 them and stone them, 15
1 tn Or “And divided tongues as of fire.” The precise meaning of διαμερίζομαι (diamerizomai) in Acts 2:3 is difficult to determine. The meaning could be “tongues as of fire dividing up one to each person,” but it is also possible that the individual tongues of fire were divided (“And divided tongues as of fire appeared”). The translation adopted in the text (“tongues spreading out like a fire”) attempts to be somewhat ambiguous.
2 tn Grk “And” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the logical sequence of events.
3 tn Or “they arrested”; Grk “they laid hands on.”
4 tn Or “prison,” “custody.”
5 tn Or “commanded.”
6 sn In the name of Jesus. Once again, the “name” reflects the person. The person of Jesus and his authority is the “troubling” topic that, as far as the Jewish leadership is concerned, needs controlling.
7 tn The Greek term ὑπηρέτης (Juphreth") generally means “servant,” but in the NT is used for many different types of servants, like attendants to a king, the officers of the Sanhedrin (as here), assistants to magistrates, and (especially in the Gospel of John) Jewish guards in the Jerusalem temple (see L&N 35.20).
8 tn The words “for them” are not in the Greek text but are implied.
9 tn Grk “reported, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in English and has not been translated.
10 tn The three aorist participles νηστεύσαντες (nhsteusante"), προσευξάμενοι (proseuxamenoi), and ἐπιθέντες (epiqente") are translated as temporal participles. Although they could indicate contemporaneous time when used with an aorist main verb, logically here they are antecedent. On fasting and prayer, see Matt 6:5, 16; Luke 2:37; 5:33; Acts 14:23.
11 tn Normally English style, which uses a coordinating conjunction between only the last two elements of a series of three or more, would call for omission of “and” here. However, since the terms “fasting and prayer” are something of a unit, often linked together, the conjunction has been retained here.
12 sn The placing of hands on Barnabas and Saul (traditionally known as “the laying on of hands”) refers to an act picturing the commission of God and the church for the task at hand.
13 tn Grk “So there came about an attempt” 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.
14 tn On this verb see BDAG 1022 s.v. ὑβρίζω.
15 tn The direct object “them” is repeated after both verbs in the translation for stylistic reasons, although it occurs only after λιθοβολῆσαι (liqobolhsai) in the Greek text.
