Discovery BoxActs 5:17 
Context5:17 Now the high priest rose up, and all those with him (that is, the religious party of the Sadducees 1 ), 2 and they were filled with jealousy. 3
Acts 17:22
Context17:22 So Paul stood 4 before the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious 5 in all respects. 6
1 sn See the note on Sadducees in 4:1.
2 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
3 sn Filled with jealousy. In Acts, the term “jealousy” (ζήλος, zhlos) occurs only here and in Acts 13:45. It is a key term in Judaism for religiously motivated rage (1 Macc 2:24; 1QH 14:13-15; m. Sanhedrin 9:5). It was a zeal motivated by a desire to maintain the purity of the faith.
4 tn Grk “standing…said.” The participle ζηλώσαντες (zhlwsante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
5 tn The term δεισιδαιμονεστέρους (deisidaimonesterou") is difficult. On the one hand it can have the positive sense of “devout,” but on the other hand it can have the negative sense of “superstitious” (BDAG 216 s.v. δεισιδαίμων). As part of a laudatory introduction (the technical rhetorical term for this introduction was capatatio), the term is probably positive here. It may well be a “backhanded” compliment, playing on the ambiguity.
6 tn BDAG 513 s.v. κατά B.6 translates the phrase κατὰ πάντα (kata panta) as “in all respects.”
