Discovery BoxActs 4:13 
Context4:13 When they saw the boldness 1 of Peter and John, and discovered 2 that they were uneducated 3 and ordinary 4 men, they were amazed and recognized these men had been with Jesus.
Acts 4:21
Context4:21 After threatening them further, they released them, for they could not find how to punish them on account of the people, because they were all praising 5 God for what had happened.
Acts 4:31
Context4:31 When 6 they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, 7 and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak 8 the word of God 9 courageously. 10
Acts 14:23
Context14:23 When they had appointed elders 11 for them in the various churches, 12 with prayer and fasting 13 they entrusted them to the protection 14 of the Lord in whom they had believed.
Acts 15:3
Context15:3 So they were sent on their way by the church, and as they passed through both Phoenicia 15 and Samaria, they were relating at length 16 the conversion of the Gentiles and bringing great joy 17 to all the brothers.
Acts 26:5
Context26:5 They know, 18 because they have known 19 me from time past, 20 if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party 21 of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee. 22
Acts 27:17
Context27:17 After the crew 23 had hoisted it aboard, 24 they used supports 25 to undergird the ship. Fearing they would run aground 26 on the Syrtis, 27 they lowered the sea anchor, 28 thus letting themselves be driven along.
Acts 27:28
Context27:28 They took soundings 29 and found the water was twenty fathoms 30 deep; when they had sailed a little farther 31 they took soundings again and found it was fifteen fathoms 32 deep.
1 tn Or “courage.”
2 tn Or “and found out.”
3 sn Uneducated does not mean “illiterate,” that is, unable to read or write. Among Jews in NT times there was almost universal literacy, especially as the result of widespread synagogue schools. The term refers to the fact that Peter and John had no formal rabbinic training and thus, in the view of their accusers, were not qualified to expound the law or teach publicly. The objection is like Acts 2:7.
4 tn For the translation of ἰδιῶται (idiwtai) as “ordinary men” see L&N 27.26.
5 tn Or “glorifying.”
6 tn Grk “And when.” 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.
7 sn The place where they were assembled…was shaken. This signifies that God is in their midst. See Acts 16:26; Exod 19:18; Ps 114:7; Isa 6:4.
8 tn The imperfect verb has been translated as an ingressive imperfect (“began to speak”). Logical sequencing suggests that their speaking began after they were filled with the Spirit. The prayer was answered immediately.
9 tn Or “speak God’s message.”
10 tn Or “with boldness.”
11 sn Appointed elders. See Acts 20:17.
12 tn The preposition κατά (kata) is used here in a distributive sense; see BDAG 512 s.v. κατά B.1.d.
13 tn Literally with a finite verb (προσευξάμενοι, proseuxamenoi) rather than a noun, “praying with fasting,” but the combination “prayer and fasting” is so familiar in English that it is preferable to use it here.
14 tn BDAG 772 s.v. παρατίθημι 3.b has “entrust someone to the care or protection of someone” for this phrase. The reference to persecution or suffering in the context (v. 22) suggests “protection” is a better translation here. This looks at God’s ultimate care for the church.
15 sn Phoenicia was an area along the Mediterranean coast north of Palestine in ancient Syria.
16 tn L&N 33.201 indicates that ἐκδιηγέομαι (ekdihgeomai) means to provide detailed information in a systematic manner, “to inform, to relate, to tell fully.” “Relating at length” conveys this effectively in the present context.
17 tn For ἐποίουν (epoioun) in this verse BDAG 839 s.v. ποιέω 2.c has “they brought joy to the members.”
18 tn These words are repeated from v. 4 (“all the Jews know”). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, it was necessary to begin a new sentence at the beginning of v. 5 in the translation, but for this to make sense, the main verb ἵσασι ({isasi) has to be repeated to connect with the ὅτι (Joti) clause (indirect discourse) in v. 5.
19 tn Grk “having known me from time past.” The participle προγινώσκοντες (proginwskonte") has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.
20 tn BDAG 866 s.v. προγινώσκω 2 has “Know from time past…προγινώσκοντές με ἄνωθεν Ac 26:5.” L&N 28.6 states, “‘they have already known me beforehand, if they are willing to testify’ Ac 26:5.”
21 tn That is, strictest religious party. “Party” alone is used in the translation because “the strictest religious party of our religion” would be redundant.
22 sn See the note on Pharisee in 5:34.
23 tn Grk “After hoisting it up, they…”; the referent (the ship’s crew) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
24 tn The participle ἄραντες (arantes) has been taken temporally.
25 tn Possibly “ropes” or “cables”; Grk “helps” (a word of uncertain meaning; probably a nautical technical term, BDAG 180 s.v. βοήθεια 2).
26 tn BDAG 308 s.v. ἐκπίπτω 2 states, “drift off course, run aground, nautical term εἴς τι on someth….on the Syrtis 27:17.”
27 tn That is, on the sandbars and shallows of the Syrtis.
sn On the Syrtis. The Syrtis was the name of two gulfs on the North African coast (modern Libya), feared greatly by sailors because of their shifting sandbars and treacherous shallows. The Syrtis here is the so-called Great Syrtis, toward Cyrenaica. It had a horrible reputation as a sailors’ graveyard (Pliny, Natural History 5.26). Josephus (J. W. 2.16.4 [2.381]) says the name alone struck terror in those who heard it. It was near the famous Scylla and Charybdis mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey.
28 tn Or perhaps “mainsail.” The meaning of this word is uncertain. BDAG 927 s.v. σκεῦος 1 has “τὸ σκεῦος Ac 27:17 seems to be the kedge or driving anchor” while C. Maurer (TDNT 7:362) notes, “The meaning in Ac. 27:17: χαλάσαντες τὸ σκεῦος, is uncertain. Prob. the ref. is not so much to taking down the sails as to throwing the draganchor overboard to lessen the speed of the ship.” In spite of this L&N 6.1 states, “In Ac 27:17, for example, the reference of σκεῦος is generally understood to be the mainsail.” A reference to the sail is highly unlikely because in a storm of the force described in Ac 27:14, the sail would have been taken down and reefed immediately, to prevent its being ripped to shreds or torn away by the gale.
29 tn Grk “Heaving the lead, they found.” The participle βολίσαντες (bolisante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. See also BDAG 180 s.v. βολίζω. Although the term is used twice in this verse (and thus is technically not a NT hapax legomenon), it occurs nowhere else in the NT.
30 sn A fathom is about 6 feet or just under 2 meters (originally the length of a man’s outstretched arms). This was a nautical technical term for measuring the depth of water. Here it was about 120 ft (36 m).
31 tn L&N 15.12, “βραχὺ δὲ διαστήσαντες ‘when they had gone a little farther’ Ac 27:28.”
32 sn Here the depth was about 90 ft (27 m).
