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20 He replied,[a] “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council[b] tomorrow, as if they were going to inquire more thoroughly about him.

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Footnotes

  1. Acts 23:20 tn Grk “He said.”
  2. Acts 23:20 tn Grk “the Sanhedrin” (the Sanhedrin was the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews).

24 and provide mounts for Paul to ride[a] so that he may be brought safely to Felix[b] the governor.”[c] 25 He wrote[d] a letter that went like this:[e]

26 Claudius Lysias to His Excellency Governor[f] Felix,[g] greetings. 27 This man was seized[h] by the Jews and they were about to kill him,[i] when I came up[j] with the detachment[k] and rescued him, because I had learned that he was[l] a Roman citizen.[m]

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Footnotes

  1. Acts 23:24 tn Grk “provide mounts to put Paul on.”sn Mounts for Paul to ride. The fact they were riding horses indicates they wanted everyone to move as quickly as possible.
  2. Acts 23:24 sn Felix the governor was Antonius Felix, a freedman of Antonia, mother of the Emperor Claudius. He was the brother of Pallas and became procurator of Palestine in a.d. 52/53. His administration was notorious for its corruption, cynicism, and cruelty. According to the historian Tacitus (History 5.9) Felix “reveled in cruelty and lust, and wielded the power of a king with the mind of a slave.”
  3. Acts 23:24 tn Grk “Felix the procurator.” The official Roman title has been translated as “governor” (BDAG 433 s.v. ἡγεμών 2).
  4. Acts 23:25 tn Grk “writing.” Due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was begun here in the translation, supplying “he” (referring to the commanding officer, Claudius Lysias) as subject. The participle γράψας (grapsas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
  5. Acts 23:25 tn Grk “having this form,” “having this content.” L&N 33.48 has “γράψσς ἐπιστολὴν ἔχουσαν τὸν τύπον τοῦτον ‘then he wrote a letter that went like this’ Ac 23:25. It is also possible to understand ἐπιστολή in Ac 23:25 not as a content or message, but as an object (see 6.63).”
  6. Acts 23:26 tn Grk “Procurator.” The official Roman title has been translated as “governor” (BDAG 433 s.v. ἡγεμών 2).
  7. Acts 23:26 sn Governor Felix. See the note on Felix in v. 24.
  8. Acts 23:27 tn The participle συλλημφθέντα (sullēmphthenta) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. The remark reviews events of Acts 21:27-40.
  9. Acts 23:27 tn Grk “and was about to be killed by them.” The passive construction has been converted to an active one in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  10. Acts 23:27 tn Or “approached.”
  11. Acts 23:27 tn Normally this term means “army,” but according to BDAG 947 s.v. στράτευμα, “Of a smaller detachment of soldiers, sing. Ac 23:10, 27.” In the plural it can be translated “troops,” but it is singular here.
  12. Acts 23:27 tn In Greek this is a present tense retained in indirect discourse.
  13. Acts 23:27 tn The word “citizen” is supplied here for emphasis and clarity.sn The letter written by the Roman commander Claudius Lysias was somewhat self-serving. He made it sound as if the rescue of a Roman citizen had been a conscious act on his part. In fact, he had made the discovery of Paul’s Roman citizenship somewhat later. See Acts 21:37-39 and 22:24-29.