Acts 13:9-11

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Acts 13:9 sn A parenthetical note by the author.
2. Acts 13:9 sn This qualifying clause in the narrative indicates who represented God in the dispute.
3. Acts 13:9 tn Or “gazed intently.”
4. Acts 13:10 tn Or “unscrupulousness.”
5. Acts 13:10 sn “You who…paths of the Lord?” This rebuke is like ones from the OT prophets: Jer 5:27; Gen 32:11; Prov 10:7; Hos 14:9. Five separate remarks indicate the magician’s failings. The closing rhetorical question of v. 10 (“will you not stop…?”) shows how opposed he is to the way of God.
6. Acts 13:11 tn Grk “And now.” 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 13:11 tn Grk “upon,” but in a negative sense.
8. Acts 13:11 sn The term translated mistiness here appears in the writings of the physician Galen as a medical technical description of a person who is blind. The picture of judgment to darkness is symbolic as well. Whatever power Elymas had, it represented darkness. Magic will again be an issue in Acts 19:18-19. This judgment is like that of Ananias and his wife in Acts 5:1-11.
9. Acts 13:11 tn Grk “fell on.”
10. Acts 13:11 tn The noun χειραγωγός (cheiragōgos) is plural, so “people” is used rather than singular “someone.”