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Then, after they had fasted[a] and[b] prayed and placed their hands[c] on them, they sent them off.

Paul and Barnabas Preach in Cyprus

So Barnabas and Saul,[d] sent out by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia,[e] and from there they sailed to Cyprus.[f] When[g] they arrived[h] in Salamis,[i] they began to proclaim[j] the word of God in the Jewish synagogues.[k] (Now they also had John[l] as their assistant.)[m]

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Footnotes

  1. Acts 13:3 tn The three aorist participles νηστεύσαντες (nēsteusantes), προσευξάμενοι (proseuxamenoi), and ἐπιθέντες (epithentes) are translated as temporal participles. Although they could indicate contemporaneous time when used with an aorist main verb, logically here they are antecedent. On fasting and prayer, see Matt 6:5, 16; Luke 2:37; 5:33; Acts 14:23.
  2. Acts 13:3 tn Normally English style, which uses a coordinating conjunction between only the last two elements of a series of three or more, would call for omission of “and” here. However, since the terms “fasting and prayer” are something of a unit, often linked together, the conjunction has been retained here.
  3. Acts 13:3 sn The placing of hands on Barnabas and Saul (traditionally known as “the laying on of hands”) refers to an act picturing the commission of God and the church for the task at hand.
  4. Acts 13:4 tn Grk “they”; the referents (Barnabas and Saul) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
  5. Acts 13:4 sn Seleucia was the port city of Antioch in Syria.
  6. Acts 13:4 sn Cyprus was a large island in the Mediterranean off the south coast of Asia Minor.
  7. Acts 13:5 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.
  8. Acts 13:5 tn The participle γενόμενοι (genomenoi) is taken temporally.
  9. Acts 13:5 sn Salamis was a city on the southeastern coast of the island of Cyprus. This was a commercial center and a center of Judaism.
  10. Acts 13:5 tn The imperfect verb κατήγγελλον (katēngellon) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.
  11. Acts 13:5 sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.
  12. Acts 13:5 sn John refers here to John Mark (see Acts 12:25).
  13. Acts 13:5 tn The word ὑπηρέτης (hupēretēs) usually has the meaning “servant,” but it is doubtful John Mark fulfilled that capacity for Barnabas and Saul. He was more likely an apprentice or assistant to them.sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.