² tn Heb “bloodshed” (so NAB, NASB, NIV); NLT “murder.”

² tn Heb “from men, from [the] world.” On the emendation of “men” to “murderers,” see the preceding note on the word “murderers.”

² tn Or “murdered.” See the note on the word “butcher” in 6:4.

² sn When the blood of your witness Stephen was shed means “when your witness Stephen was murdered.”

² tn The expression “breathing out threats and murder” is an idiomatic expression for “making threats to murder” (see L&N 33.293). Although the two terms “threats” and “murder” are syntactically coordinate, the second is semantically subordinate to the first. In other words, the content of the threats is to murder the disciples.

³ tn Heb “for bloodshed” (so NASB); TEV “for a chance to commit murder.”

² tn Heb “her widows they have multiplied.” The statement alludes to their murderous acts.

³ tn Heb “struck,” but in context a fatal blow is meant; cf. NLT “who committed the murder.”

⁴ sn See A. Phillips, “Another Look at Murder,” JJS 28 (1977): 105-26.

¹ tn Literally a series of verbs without connectives, “you have condemned, you have murdered…he does not resist.”

² tn Grk “he sent his soldiers, destroyed those murderers.” The verb ἀπώλεσεν (apōlesen) is causative, indicating that the king was the one behind the execution of the murderers. In English the causative idea is not expressed naturally here; either a purpose clause (“he sent his soldiers to put those murderers to death”) or a relative clause (“he sent his soldier who put those murderers to death”) is preferred.

¹ tn This term is plural in Greek (as is “murder” and “carousing”), but for clarity these abstract nouns have been translated as singular.

¹ tn The term ἀναίρεσις (anairesis) can refer to murder (BDAG 64 s.v.; 2 Macc 5:13; Josephus, Ant. 5.2.12 [5.165]).

⁴ tn Heb “because of the sword.” The term “sword” is a metonymy of instrument (= sword) for the persons who use the instrument (= murderers or marauders).

² sn The text has “the blood of a life”; blood will be the metonymy of effect for the murder, the shedding of blood.

² tn The verb אָרַב (ʾarav, “to lie in wait”) is used for planning murder (Deut 19:11), kidnapping (Judg 21:20), or seduction (Prov 23:28).

³ tn Heb “for blood.” The term דָּם (dam, “blood”) functions as a metonymy of effect for “blood shed violently” through murder (HALOT 224 s.v. 4).

¹ tn After the concluding disjunctive clause at the end of v. 6, the author now begins a more detailed account of the murder and its aftermath.

² sn Everyone who hates his fellow Christian is a murderer. On one level it is easy to see how the author could say this; the person who hates his brother is one and the same with the person who murders his brother. Behind the usage here, however, is John 8:44, the only other occurrence of the Greek word translated murderer (ἀνθρωποκτόνος, anthrōpoktonos) in the NT, where the devil is described as a “murderer from the beginning.” John 8:44 refers to the devil’s role in bringing death to Adam and Eve, but even more to his involvement (not directly mentioned in the Genesis account, but elaborated in the intertestamental literature, especially the writings of Philo) in Cain’s murder of his brother Abel. This was the first incident of murder in human history and also the first outward demonstration of the full implications of sin’s entry into the world. Ultimately, then, the devil is behind murder, just as he was behind Cain’s murder of Abel. When the hater kills, he shows himself to be a child of the devil (cf. 1 John 3:10). Once again, conduct is the clue to paternity.

¹ tn Heb “men of bloods.” The Hebrew word for “blood” is written in the plural to reflect the shedding of blood. So the expression “men of bloods” means people who shed blood—murderers, bloodthirsty men, or those who would not hesitate to commit murder in order to get what they want.