Acts 25:25-27

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Acts 25:25 sn He had done nothing that deserved death. Festus’ opinion of Paul’s guilt is like Pilate’s of Jesus (Luke 23:4, 14, 22).
2. Acts 25:25 tn The participle ἐπικαλεσαμένου (epikalesamenou) has been taken temporally. It could also be translated as causal: “and because he appealed…”
3. Acts 25:25 tn A designation of the Roman emperor (in this case, Nero). BDAG 917 s.v. σεβαστός states, “ὁ Σεβαστός His Majesty the Emperor Ac 25:21, 25 (of Nero).”
4. Acts 25:25 tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.
5. Acts 25:26 sn There is irony here. How can Festus write anything definite about Paul, if he is guilty of nothing.
6. Acts 25:26 sn To my lord means “to His Majesty the Emperor.”
7. Acts 25:26 tn Grk “about whom I have nothing definite…” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“whom”) was replaced with a personal pronoun (“him”) and a new sentence begun in the translation at the beginning of v. 26.
8. Acts 25:26 sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.
9. Acts 25:26 tn Or “investigation.” BDAG 66 s.v. ἀνάκρισις has “a judicial hearing, investigation, hearing, esp. preliminary hearing…τῆς ἀ. γενομένης Ac 25:26.” This is technical legal language.
10. Acts 25:27 tn L&N 33.153 s.v. σημαίνω, “to cause something to be both specific and clear—‘to indicate clearly, to make clear’…‘for it seems unreasonable to me to send a prisoner without clearly indicating the charges against him’ Ac 25:27.”sn Without clearly indicating the charges against him. Again the point is made by Festus himself that there is difficulty even in articulating a charge against Paul.