Discovery BoxActs 21:40 
Context21:40 When the commanding officer 1 had given him permission, 2 Paul stood 3 on the steps and gestured 4 to the people with his hand. When they had become silent, 5 he addressed 6 them in Aramaic, 7
Acts 26:14
Context26:14 When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, 8 ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? You are hurting yourself 9 by kicking against the goads.’ 10
1 tn The referent (the commanding officer) has been supplied here in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Grk “Giving him permission.” The participle ἐπιτρέψαντος (epitreyanto") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
3 tn Grk “standing.” The participle ἑστώς (Jestws) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
4 tn Or “motioned.”
5 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.”
6 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.”
7 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.
8 tn Grk “in the Hebrew language.” See Acts 22:7 and 9:4.
9 tn Grk “It is hard for you.”
10 tn “Goads” are pointed sticks used to direct a draft animal (an idiom for stubborn resistance). See BDAG 539-40 s.v. κέντρον 2.
sn Sayings which contain the imagery used here (kicking against the goads) were also found in Greek writings; see Pindar, Pythians 2.94-96; Euripides, Bacchae 795.
