Acts 7:40
Context7:40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go in front of us, for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt 1 – we do not know what has happened to him!’ 2
Acts 17:29
Context17:29 So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity 3 is like gold or silver or stone, an image 4 made by human 5 skill 6 and imagination. 7
Acts 20:24
Context20:24 But I do not consider my life 8 worth anything 9 to myself, so that 10 I may finish my task 11 and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news 12 of God’s grace.
1 tn Or simply “of Egypt.” The phrase “the land of” could be omitted as unnecessary or redundant.
2 sn A quotation from Exod 32:1, 23. Doubt (we do not know what has happened to him) expresses itself in unfaithful action. The act is in contrast to God’s promise in Exod 23:20.
3 tn Or “the divine being.” BDAG 446 s.v. θεῖος 1.b has “divine being, divinity” here.
4 tn Or “a likeness.” Again idolatry is directly attacked as an affront to God and a devaluation of him.
5 tn Grk “by the skill and imagination of man,” but ἀνθρώπου (anqrwpou) has been translated as an attributive genitive.
6 tn Or “craftsmanship” (cf. BDAG 1001 s.v. τέχνη).
7 tn Or “thought.” BDAG 336 s.v. ἐνθύμησις has “thought, reflection, idea” as the category of meaning here, but in terms of creativity (as in the context) the imaginative faculty is in view.
8 tn Grk “soul.”
9 tn Or “I do not consider my life worth a single word.” According to BDAG 599 s.v. λόγος 1.a.α, “In the textually uncertain pass. Ac 20:24 the text as it stands in N., οὐδενὸς λόγου (v.l. λόγον) ποιοῦμαι τὴν ψυχὴν τιμίαν, may well mean: I do not consider my life worth a single word (cp. λόγου ἄξιον [ἄξιος 1a] and our ‘worth mention’).”
10 tn BDAG 1106 s.v. ὡς 9 describes this use as “a final particle, expressing intention/purpose, with a view to, in order to.”
11 tn Grk “course.” See L&N 42.26, “(a figurative extension of meaning of δρόμος ‘race’) a task or function involving continuity, serious, effort, and possibly obligation – ‘task, mission’…Ac 20:24.” On this Pauline theme see also Phil 1:19-26; Col 1:24; 2 Tim 4:6-7.
12 tn Or “to the gospel.”