Discovery BoxActs 24:13-16 
Context24:13 nor can they prove 1 to you the things 2 they are accusing me of doing. 3 24:14 But I confess this to you, that I worship 4 the God of our ancestors 5 according to the Way (which they call a sect), believing everything that is according to the law 6 and that is written in the prophets. 24:15 I have 7 a hope in God (a hope 8 that 9 these men 10 themselves accept too) that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. 11 24:16 This is the reason 12 I do my best to always 13 have a clear 14 conscience toward God and toward people. 15
1 tn BDAG 778 s.v. παρίστημι/παριστάνω 1.f has “οὐδὲ παραστῆσαι δύνανταί σοι περὶ ὧν νυνὶ κατηγοροῦσίν μου nor can they prove to you the accusations they are now making against me Ac 24:13.”
sn Nor can they prove. This is a formal legal claim that Paul’s opponents lacked proof of any wrongdoing. They had no witness who could justify the arrest at the temple.
2 tn The words “the things” are not in the Greek text but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.
3 tn Grk “nor can they prove to you [the things] about which they are now accusing me.” This has been simplified to eliminate the relative pronoun (“which”) in the translation.
4 tn Or “serve.”
5 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
6 sn That is, the law of Moses. Paul was claiming that he legitimately worshiped the God of Israel. He was arguing that this amounted to a religious dispute rather than a political one, so that the Roman authorities need not concern themselves with it.
7 tn Grk “having.” The participle ἔχων (ecwn) has been translated as a finite verb and a new sentence begun at this point in the translation because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence.
8 sn This mention of Paul’s hope sets up his appeal to the resurrection of the dead. At this point Paul was ignoring the internal Jewish dispute between the Pharisees (to which he had belonged) and the Sadducees (who denied there would be a resurrection of the dead).
9 tn Grk “a hope in God (which these [men] themselves accept too).” Because the antecedent of the relative pronoun “which” is somewhat unclear in English, the words “a hope” have been repeated at the beginning of the parenthesis for clarity.
10 tn Grk “that they”; the referent (these men, Paul’s accusers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 tn Or “the unjust.”
sn This is the only mention of the resurrection of the unrighteous in Acts. The idea parallels the idea of Jesus as the judge of both the living and the dead (Acts 10:42; 17:31).
12 tn BDAG 329 s.v. ἐν 9.a, “ἐν τούτῳ πιστεύομεν this is the reason why we believe Jn 16:30; cp. Ac 24:16.”
13 tn BDAG 224 s.v. διά 2.a, “διὰ παντός…always, continually, constantly…Ac 2:25 (Ps 15:8); 10:2; 24:16.” However, the positioning of the adverb “always” in the English translation is difficult; the position used is one of the least awkward.
14 tn BDAG 125 s.v. ἀπρόσκοπος 1 has “ἀ. συνείδησις a clear conscience Ac 24:16.”
15 tn Grk “men,” but this is a generic use (Paul does not have only males in view).
