Discovery BoxActs 15:14-16 
Context15:14 Simeon 1 has explained 2 how God first concerned himself 3 to select 4 from among the Gentiles 5 a people for his name. 15:15 The 6 words of the prophets agree 7 with this, as it is written,
15:16 ‘After this 8 I 9 will return,
and I will rebuild the fallen tent 10 of David;
I will rebuild its ruins and restore 11 it,
1 sn Simeon is a form of the apostle Peter’s Aramaic name. James uses Peter’s “Jewish” name here.
2 tn Or “reported,” “described.”
3 tn BDAG 378 s.v. ἐπισκέπτομαι 3 translates this phrase in Acts 15:14, “God concerned himself about winning a people fr. among the nations.”
4 tn Grk “to take,” but in the sense of selecting or choosing (accompanied by the preposition ἐκ [ek] plus a genitive specifying the group selected from) see Heb 5:1; also BDAG 584 s.v. λαμβάνω 6.
5 sn In the Greek text the expression “from among the Gentiles” is in emphatic position.
6 tn Grk “And the.” 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 term agree means “match” or “harmonize with.” James’ point in the introduction argues that many of the OT prophets taught this. He gives one example (which follows).
8 tn Grk “After these things.”
9 sn The first person pronoun I refers to God and his activity. It is God who is doing this.
10 tn Or more generally, “dwelling”; perhaps, “royal tent.” According to BDAG 928 s.v. σκηνή the word can mean “tent” or “hut,” or more generally “lodging” or “dwelling.” In this verse (a quotation from Amos 9:11) BDAG refers this to David’s ruined kingdom; it is possibly an allusion to a king’s tent (a royal tent). God is at work to reestablish David’s line (Acts 2:30-36; 13:32-39).
11 tn BDAG 86 s.v. ἀνορθόω places this verb under the meaning “to build someth. up again after it has fallen, rebuild, restore,” but since ἀνοικοδομέω (anoikodomew, “rebuild”) has occurred twice in this verse already, “restore” is used here.
