Footnotes

1. Acts 16:19 tn Or “masters.”
2. Acts 16:19 tn On this use of ἐργασία (ergasia), see BDAG 390 s.v. 4. It is often the case that destructive practices and commerce are closely tied together.
3. Acts 16:19 tn Grk “was gone, seizing.” The participle ἐπιλαβόμενοι (epilabomenoi) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
4. Acts 16:19 tn On the term ἕλκω (helkō) see BDAG 318 s.v. 1.
5. Acts 16:19 sn The marketplace (Greek agora) was not only a place of trade and commerce in the first century Greco-Roman world. It was a place of discussion and dialogue (the “public square”), a place of judgment (courts held session there), a place for idle people and those seeking work, and a place for children to play.
6. Acts 16:20 tn Grk “And when.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
7. Acts 16:20 tn Grk “having brought them.” The participle ἐπιλαβόμενοι (epilabomenoi) has been taken temporally. It is also possible in English to translate this participle as a finite verb: “they brought them before the magistrates and said.”
8. Acts 16:20 tn BDAG 309 s.v. ἐκταράσσω has “agitate, cause trouble to, throw into confusion” for the meaning of this verb.
9. Acts 16:20 tn Grk “being Jews, and they are proclaiming.” The participle ὑπάρχοντες (huparchontes) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
10. Acts 16:21 tn Grk “proclaiming,” but in relation to customs, “advocating” is a closer approximation to the meaning.
11. Acts 16:21 tn Or “acknowledge.”
12. Acts 16:21 sn Customs that are not lawful for us to accept or practice. Ironically, the charges are similar to those made against Jesus in Luke 23:2, where Jews argued he was “twisting” their customs. The charge has three elements: (1) a racial element (Jewish); (2) a social element (unlawful); and (3) a traditional element (not their customs).
13. Acts 16:21 tn Grk “we being Romans.” The participle οὖσιν (ousin) has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.
14. Acts 16:22 tn L&N 39.50 has “the crowd joined the attack against them” for συνεπέστη (sunepestē) in this verse.
15. Acts 16:22 tn Grk “tearing the clothes off them, the magistrates ordered.” The participle περιρήξαντες (perirēxantes) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. Although it may be possible to understand the aorist active participle περιρήξαντες in a causative sense (“the magistrates caused the clothes to be torn off Paul and Silas”) in the mob scene that was taking place, it is also possible that the magistrates themselves actively participated. This act was done to prepare them for a public flogging (2 Cor 11:25; 1 Thess 2:2).
16. Acts 16:22 tn Grk “off them”; the referents (Paul and Silas) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
17. Acts 16:22 tn The infinitive ῥαβδίζειν (rhabdizein) means “to beat with rods or sticks” (as opposed to fists, BDAG 902 s.v. ῥαβδίζω).
18. Acts 16:23 tn Grk “Having inflicted many blows on them.” The participle ἐπιθέντες (epithentes) has been taken temporally. BDAG 384 s.v. ἐπιτίθημι 1.a.β has “inflict blows upon someone” for this expression, but in this context it is simpler to translate in English as “they had beaten them severely.”
19. Acts 16:23 tn Grk “commanding.” The participle παραγγείλαντες (parangeilantes) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
20. Acts 16:24 tn Or “prison.”
21. Acts 16:24 tn L&N 6.21 has “stocks” for εἰς τὸ ξύλον (eis to xulon) here, as does BDAG 685 s.v. ξύλον 2.b. However, it is also possible (as mentioned in L&N 18.12) that this does not mean “stocks” but a block of wood (a log or wooden column) in the prison to which prisoners’ feet were chained or tied. Such a possibility is suggested by v. 26, where the “bonds” (“chains”?) of the prisoners loosened.