Acts 11:21–24

11:21 The51 hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed52 turned53 to the Lord. 11:22 A report54 about them came to the attention55 of the church in Jerusalem,56 and they sent Barnabas57 to Antioch.58 11:23 When59 he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain true60 to the Lord with devoted hearts,61 11:24 because he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a significant number of people62 were brought to the Lord.

Read more Share

51	tn Grk “And the.” 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.
52	tn The participle πιστεύσας (pisteusas) is articular and thus cannot be adverbial. It is adjectival, modifying ἀριθμός (arithmos), but has been translated into English as a relative clause (“who believed”).
53	sn Again, the expression turned is a summary term for responding to the gospel.
54	tn Grk “Word.”
55	tn Grk “was heard in the ears,” an idiom. L&N 24.67 states that the idiom means “to hear in secret” (which it certainly does in Matt 10:27), but secrecy does not seem to be part of the context here, and there is no particular reason to suggest the report was made in secret.
56	map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
57	tc ‡ Most mss read the infinitive “to travel” after “Barnabas.” διελθεῖν (dielthein) is found before ἕως (heōs) in D E Ψ 33 𝔐 and some versional mss. It is lacking in 𝔓74 א A B 81 1739 pc and some versional mss. Although the infinitive with ἕως fits Lukan style, it has the appearance of a scribal clarification. The infinitive has the earmarks of a Western expansion on the text and thus is unlikely to be original. NA 27 has the infinitive in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.
58	sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). See the note in 11:19. Again the Jerusalem church exercised an oversight role.
59	tn Grk “Antioch, who when.” The relative pronoun was omitted and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style, due to the length of the sentence in Greek.
60	tn BDAG 883 s.v. προσμένω 1.a.β has “remain true to the Lord” for προσμένειν (prosmenein) in this verse. sn He … encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord. The call to faithfulness is frequent in Acts (2:40; 14:22; 15:32; 16:39; 20:1–2).
61	tn Grk “with purpose of heart”; BDAG 869 s.v. πρόθεσις 2.a translates this phrase “purpose of heart, i.e. devotion” here.
62	tn Grk “a significant crowd.”

A service of Logos Bible Software