Discovery BoxActs 2:6 
Context2:6 When this sound 1 occurred, a crowd gathered and was in confusion, 2 because each one heard them speaking in his own language.
Acts 5:16
Context5:16 A crowd of people from the towns around Jerusalem 3 also came together, bringing the sick and those troubled by unclean spirits. 4 They 5 were all 6 being healed.
Acts 14:14
Context14:14 But when the apostles 7 Barnabas and Paul heard about 8 it, they tore 9 their clothes and rushed out 10 into the crowd, shouting, 11
Acts 16:22
Context16:22 The crowd joined the attack 12 against them, and the magistrates tore the clothes 13 off Paul and Silas 14 and ordered them to be beaten with rods. 15
Acts 21:32
Context21:32 He 16 immediately took 17 soldiers and centurions 18 and ran down to the crowd. 19 When they saw 20 the commanding officer 21 and the soldiers, they stopped beating 22 Paul.
Acts 24:12
Context24:12 They did not find me arguing 23 with anyone or stirring up a crowd 24 in the temple courts 25 or in the synagogues 26 or throughout the city, 27
1 tn Or “this noise.”
2 tn Or “was bewildered.”
3 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
4 sn Unclean spirits refers to evil spirits.
5 tn Literally a relative pronoun, “who.” In English, however, a relative clause (“bringing the sick and those troubled by unclean spirits, who were all being healed”) could be understood to refer only to the second group (meaning only those troubled by unclean spirits were being healed) or even that the unclean spirits were being healed. To avoid this ambiguity the pronoun “they” was used to begin a new English sentence.
6 sn They were all being healed. Note how the healings that the apostles provided were comprehensive in their consistency.
7 sn The apostles Barnabas and Paul. This is one of only two places where Luke calls Paul an apostle, and the description here is shared with Barnabas. This is a nontechnical use here, referring to a commissioned messenger.
8 tn The participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") is taken temporally.
9 tn Grk “tearing their clothes they rushed out.” The participle διαρρήξαντες (diarrhxante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. This action is a Jewish response to blasphemy (m. Sanhedrin 7.5; Jdt 14:16-17).
10 tn So BDAG 307 s.v. ἐκπηδάω 1, “rush (lit. ‘leap’) out…εἰς τὸν ὄχλον into the crowd Ac 14:14.”
11 tn Grk “shouting and saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes, in v. 15) has not been translated because it is redundant.
sn What follows is one of two speeches in Acts to a purely pagan audience (Acts 17 in Athens is the other). So Paul focused on God as Creator, a common link.
12 tn L&N 39.50 has “the crowd joined the attack against them” for συνεπέστη (sunepesth) in this verse.
13 tn Grk “tearing the clothes off them, the magistrates ordered.” The participle περιρήξαντες (perirhxante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. Although it may be possible to understand the aorist active participle περιρήξαντες in a causative sense (“the magistrates caused the clothes to be torn off Paul and Silas”) in the mob scene that was taking place, it is also possible that the magistrates themselves actively participated. This act was done to prepare them for a public flogging (2 Cor 11:25; 1 Thess 2:2).
14 tn Grk “off them”; the referents (Paul and Silas) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
15 tn The infinitive ῥαβδίζειν (rJabdizein) means “to beat with rods or sticks” (as opposed to fists or clubs, BDAG 902 s.v. ῥαβδίζω).
16 tn Grk “who.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences, the relative pronoun (“who”) was translated as a pronoun (“he”) and a new sentence was begun here in the translation.
17 tn Grk “taking…ran down.” The participle κατέδραμεν (katedramen) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
18 sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.
19 tn Grk “to them”; the referent (the crowd) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
20 tn Grk “seeing.” The participle ἰδόντες (idonte") has been taken temporally.
21 tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 31.
22 sn The mob stopped beating Paul because they feared the Romans would arrest them for disturbing the peace and for mob violence. They would let the Roman officials take care of the matter from this point on.
23 tn Or “disputing,” “conducting a heated discussion.”
24 tn BDAG 381 s.v. ἐπίστασις 2 has “ἐ. ποιεῖν ὄχλου to cause a crowd to gather Ac 24:12.” Roman authorities would not allow a mob to gather and threaten the peace, and anyone suspected of instigating a mob would certainly be arrested.
25 tn Grk “in the temple.” This is actually a reference to the courts surrounding the temple proper, and has been translated accordingly.
26 sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.
27 sn A second part of Paul’s defense is that he did nothing while he was in Jerusalem to cause unrest, neither arguing nor stirring up a crowd in the temple courts or in the synagogues or throughout the city.
