Acts 14:22

They strengthened ¹  the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue ²  in the faith, saying, “We must enter the kingdom ³  of God through many persecutions.” ⁴ 

Isa 35:3; Mt 10:21,22,38; Mt 16:24; Mt 19:24; Mr 9:47; Mr 10:24,25; Lu 22:28,29; Lu 24:26; Joh 3:5; Joh 8:31,32; Joh 12:25,26; Joh 15:4-6,9,10; Joh 16:1,2,33; Ac 11:23; Ac 13:43; Ac 15:32,41; Ac 18:23; Ro 8:17; 1Co 1:8; Col 1:23; 1Th 3:2-4,13; 1Th 3:4; 2Ti 1:8; 2Ti 2:11,12; 2Ti 3:12; 1Pe 4:12-16; 1Pe 5:10; 2Pe 1:11; Jude 1:3,20,21; Re 2:10; Re 7:14

¹ tn Grk “to Antioch, strengthening.” Due to the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences, a new sentence was started here. This participle (ἐπιστηρίζοντες, episthrizonte") and the following one (παρακαλοῦντες, parakalounte") have been translated as finite verbs connected by the coordinating conjunction “and.”

² sn And encouraged them to continue. The exhortations are like those noted in Acts 11:23; 13:43. An example of such a speech is found in Acts 20:18-35. Christianity is now characterized as “the faith.”

³ sn This reference to the kingdom of God clearly refers to its future arrival.

⁴ tn Or “sufferings.”