Discovery BoxActs 21:33-34 
Context21:33 Then the commanding officer 1 came up and arrested 2 him and ordered him to be tied up with two chains; 3 he 4 then asked who he was and what 5 he had done. 21:34 But some in the crowd shouted one thing, and others something else, 6 and when the commanding officer 7 was unable 8 to find out the truth 9 because of the disturbance, 10 he ordered Paul 11 to be brought into the barracks. 12
Acts 21:37
Context21:37 As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, 13 he said 14 to the commanding officer, 15 “May I say 16 something to you?” The officer 17 replied, 18 “Do you know Greek? 19
Acts 21:40
Context21:40 When the commanding officer 20 had given him permission, 21 Paul stood 22 on the steps and gestured 23 to the people with his hand. When they had become silent, 24 he addressed 25 them in Aramaic, 26
Acts 22:29
Context22:29 Then those who were about to interrogate him stayed away 27 from him, and the commanding officer 28 was frightened when he realized that Paul 29 was 30 a Roman citizen 31 and that he had had him tied up. 32
Acts 23:10
Context23:10 When the argument became 33 so great the commanding officer 34 feared that they would tear Paul to pieces, 35 he ordered the detachment 36 to go down, take him away from them by force, 37 and bring him into the barracks. 38
Acts 23:18
Context23:18 So the centurion 39 took him and brought him to the commanding officer 40 and said, “The prisoner Paul called 41 me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you.”
1 tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 31.
2 tn Grk “seized.”
3 tn The two chains would be something like handcuffs (BDAG 48 s.v. ἅλυσις and compare Acts 28:20).
4 tn Grk “and he.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was begun in the translation, and καί (kai) has been replaced with a semicolon. “Then” has been supplied after “he” to clarify the logical sequence.
5 tn Grk “and what it is”; this has been simplified to “what.”
6 tn L&N 33.77 has “ἄλλοι δὲ ἄλλο τι ἐπεφώνουν ἐν τῷ ὄχλῳ ‘some in the crowd shouted one thing; others, something else’ Ac 21:34.”
7 tn Grk “he”; the referent (the commanding officer) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
8 tn This genitive absolute construction has been translated temporally; it could also be taken causally: “and since the commanding officer was unable to find out the truth.”
9 tn Or “find out what had happened”; Grk “the certainty” (BDAG 147 s.v. ἀσφαλής 2).
10 tn Or “clamor,” “uproar” (BDAG 458 s.v. θόρυβος).
11 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 tn Or “the headquarters.” BDAG 775 s.v. παρεμβολή 2 has “barracks/headquarters of the Roman troops in Jerusalem Ac 21:34, 37; 22:24; 23:10, 16, 32.”
13 tn Or “the headquarters.” BDAG 775 s.v. παρεμβολή 2 has “barracks/headquarters of the Roman troops in Jerusalem Ac 21:34, 37; 22:24; 23:10, 16, 32.”
14 tn Grk “says” (a historical present).
15 tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers) See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 31.
16 tn Grk “Is it permitted for me to say” (an idiom).
17 tn Grk “He”; the referent (the officer) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
18 tn Grk “said.”
19 sn “Do you know Greek?” Paul as an educated rabbi was bilingual. Paul’s request in Greek allowed the officer to recognize that Paul was not the violent insurrectionist he thought he had arrested (see following verse). The confusion of identities reveals the degree of confusion dominating these events.
20 tn The referent (the commanding officer) has been supplied here in the translation for clarity.
21 tn Grk “Giving him permission.” The participle ἐπιτρέψαντος (epitreyanto") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
22 tn Grk “standing.” The participle ἑστώς (Jestws) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
23 tn Or “motioned.”
24 tn γενομένης (genomenhs) has been taken temporally. BDAG 922 s.v. σιγή has “πολλῆς σιγῆς γενομένης when a great silence had fallen = when they had become silent Ac 21:40.”
25 tn Or “spoke out to.” L&N 33.27 has “to address an audience, with possible emphasis upon loudness – ‘to address, to speak out to.’ πολλῆς δέ σιγῆς γενομένης προσεφώνησεν τῇ ᾿Εβραίδι διαλέκτῳ ‘when they were quiet, he addressed them in Hebrew’ Ac 21:40.”
26 tn Grk “in the Hebrew dialect, saying.” This refers to the Aramaic spoken in Palestine in the 1st century (BDAG 270 s.v. ῾Εβραΐς). The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in English and has not been translated.
27 tn BDAG 158 s.v. ἀφίστημι 2.b has “keep away…ἀπό τινος… Lk 4:13; Ac 5:38; 2 Cor 12:8…cp. Ac 22:29.” In context, the point would seem to be not that the interrogators departed or withdrew, but that they held back from continuing the flogging.
28 tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 24.
29 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
30 tn This is a present tense (ἐστιν, estin) retained in indirect discourse. It must be translated as a past tense in contemporary English.
31 tn The word “citizen” is supplied here for emphasis and clarity.
32 sn Had him tied up. Perhaps a reference to the chains in Acts 21:33, or the preparations for the lashing in Acts 22:25. A trial would now be needed to resolve the matter. The Roman authorities’ hesitation to render a judgment in the case occurs repeatedly: Acts 22:30; 23:28-29; 24:22; 25:20, 26-27. The legal process begun here would take the rest of Acts and will be unresolved at the end. The process itself took four years of Paul’s life.
33 tn This genitive absolute construction with the participle γινομένης (ginomenhs) has been taken temporally (it could also be translated as causal).
34 tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). In Greek the term χιλίαρχος (ciliarco") literally described the “commander of a thousand,” but it was used as the standard translation for the Latin tribunus militum or tribunus militare, the military tribune who commanded a cohort of 600 men.
35 tn Grk “that Paul would be torn to pieces by them.” BDAG 236 s.v. διασπάω has “of an angry mob μὴ διασπασθῇ ὁ Παῦλος ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν that Paul would be torn in pieces by them Ac 23:10.” The passive construction is somewhat awkward in English and has been converted to an equivalent active construction in the translation.
36 tn Normally this term means “army,” but according to BDAG 947 s.v. στράτευμα, “Of a smaller detachment of soldiers, sing. Ac 23:10, 27.” In the plural it can be translated “troops,” but it is singular here.
37 tn Or “to go down, grab him out of their midst.”
38 tn Or “the headquarters.” BDAG 775 s.v. παρεμβολή 2 has “barracks/headquarters of the Roman troops in Jerusalem Ac 21:34, 37; 22:24; 23:10, 16, 32.”
39 tn Grk “he”; the referent (the centurion) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
40 tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 10.
41 tn Grk “calling.” The participle προσκαλεσάμενος (proskalesameno") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
