Acts 23:14

They ¹  went ²  to the chief priests ³  and the elders and said, “We have bound ourselves with a solemn oath ⁴  not to partake ⁵  of anything until we have killed Paul.

They went to the chief priests and elders and said, "We have taken a solemn oath not to eat anything until we have killed Paul.

They came to the chief priests and the elders and said, "We have bound ourselves under a solemn oath to taste nothing until we have killed Paul.

They went to the leading priests and other leaders and told them what they had done. "We have bound ourselves under oath to neither eat nor drink until we have killed Paul.

and presented themselves to the high priests and religious leaders. "We've bound ourselves by a solemn oath to eat nothing until we have killed Paul.

And they came to the chief priests and the rulers and said, We have taken a great oath to take no food till we have put Paul to death

They went to the chief priests and elders and said, "We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food until we have killed Paul.

They came to the chief priests and elders, and said, "We have bound ourselves under a great oath that we will eat nothing until we have killed Paul.

They ¹  went ²  to the chief priests ³  and the elders and said, “We have bound ourselves with a solemn oath ⁴  not to partake ⁵  of anything until we have killed Paul.

¹ tn Grk “who.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“whom”) was translated by the third person plural pronoun (“them”) and a new sentence begun in the translation.

² tn Grk “going.” The participle προσελθόντες (proselqonte") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

³ sn They went to the chief priests. The fact that the high priest knew of this plot and did nothing shows the Jewish leadership would even become accomplices to murder to stop Paul. They would not allow Roman justice to take its course. Paul’s charge in v. 3 of superficially following the law is thus shown to be true.

⁴ tn Or “bound ourselves under a curse.” BDAG 63 s.v. ἀναθεματίζω 1 has “trans. put under a curse τινά someone…pleonastically ἀναθέματι ἀ. ἑαυτόν Ac 23:14…ἀ. ἑαυτόν vss. 12, 21, 13 v.l.” The pleonastic use ἀναθέματι ἀνεθεματίσαμεν (literally “we have cursed ourselves with a curse”) probably serves as an intensifier following Semitic usage, and is represented in the translation by the word “solemn.” On such oaths see m. Nedarim 3:1, 3.

⁵ tn This included both food and drink (γεύομαι [geuomai] is used of water turned to wine in John 2:9).