Discovery BoxActs 21:9-11 
Context21:9 (He had four unmarried 1 daughters who prophesied.) 2
21:10 While we remained there for a number of days, 3 a prophet named Agabus 4 came down from Judea. 21:11 He came 5 to us, took 6 Paul’s belt, 7 tied 8 his own hands and feet with it, 9 and said, “The Holy Spirit says this: ‘This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man whose belt this is, and will hand him over 10 to the Gentiles.’”
1 tn Grk “virgin.” While the term παρθένος (parqeno") can refer to a woman who has never had sexual relations, the emphasis in this context seems to be on the fact that Philip’s daughters were not married (L&N 9.39).
2 sn This is best taken as a parenthetical note by the author. Luke again noted women who were gifted in the early church (see Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3.31; 3.39).
3 tn BDAG 848 s.v. πολύς 1.b.α has “ἐπὶ ἡμέρας πλείους for a (large) number of days, for many days…Ac 13:31. – 21:10…24:17; 25:14; 27:20.”
4 sn Agabus also appeared in Acts 11:28. He was from Jerusalem, so the two churches were still in contact with one another.
5 tn Grk “And coming.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here. The participle ἐλθών (elqwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
6 tn Grk “and taking.” This καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more. The participle ἄρας (aras) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
7 sn The belt was a band or sash used to keep money as well as to gird up the tunic (BDAG 431 s.v. ζώνη).
8 tn The participle δήσας (dhsas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
9 tn The words “with it” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.
10 tn Grk “and will deliver him over into the hands of” (a Semitic idiom).
sn The Jews…will tie up…and will hand him over. As later events will show, the Jews in Jerusalem did not personally tie Paul up and hand him over to the Gentiles, but their reaction to him was the cause of his arrest (Acts 21:27-36).
