Kisah Para Rasul 17:23

17:23 For as I went around and observed closely your objects of worship, ¹  I even found an altar with this inscription: ²  ‘To an unknown god.’ Therefore what you worship without knowing it, ³  this I proclaim to you.

Kisah Para Rasul 17:30-34

17:30 Therefore, although God has overlooked ⁴  such times of ignorance, ⁵  he now commands all people ⁶  everywhere to repent, ⁷  17:31 because he has set ⁸  a day on which he is going to judge the world ⁹  in righteousness, by a man whom he designated, ¹⁰  having provided proof to everyone by raising ¹¹  him from the dead.”

17:32 Now when they heard about ¹²  the resurrection from the dead, some began to scoff, ¹³  but others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 17:33 So Paul left the Areopagus. ¹⁴  17:34 But some people ¹⁵  joined him ¹⁶  and believed. Among them ¹⁷  were Dionysius, who was a member of the Areopagus, ¹⁸  a woman ¹⁹  named Damaris, and others with them.

[17:23]  ¹ tn Or “your sanctuaries.” L&N 53.54 gives “sanctuary” (place of worship) as an alternate meaning for the word σεβάσματα (sebasmata).

[17:23]  ² tn Grk “on which was written,” but since it would have been carved in stone, it is more common to speak of an “inscription” in English. To simplify the English the relative construction with a passive verb (“on which was inscribed”) was translated as a prepositional phrase with a substantive (“inscription”).

[17:23]  ³ tn BDAG 13 s.v. ἀγνοέω 1.b has “Abs. ὅ ἀγνοοῦντες εὐσεβεῖτε what you worship without knowing it (on the subject matter Maximus Tyr. 11, 5e: all sorts of philosophers ἴσασιν οὐκ ἑκόντες καὶ λέγουσιν ἄκοντες sc. τὸ θεῖον = they know and name God without intending to do so) Ac 17:23.” Paul, in typical Jewish Christian style, informs them of the true God, of whom their idols are an ignorant reflection.

[17:30]  ⁴ tn Or “has deliberately paid no attention to.”

[17:30]  ⁵ tn Or “times when people did not know.”

[17:30]  ⁶ tn Here ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") has been translated as a generic noun (“people”).

[17:30]  ⁷ sn He now commands all people everywhere to repent. God was now asking all mankind to turn to him. No nation or race was excluded.

[17:31]  ⁸ tn Or “fixed.”

[17:31]  ⁹ sn The world refers to the whole inhabited earth.

[17:31]  ¹⁰ tn Or “appointed.” BDAG 723 s.v. ὁρίζω 2.b has “of persons appoint, designate, declare: God judges the world ἐν ἀνδρὶ ᾧ ὥρισεν through a man whom he has appointed Ac 17:31.”

[17:31]  sn A man whom he designated. Jesus is put in the position of eschatological judge. As judge of the living and the dead, he possesses divine authority (Acts 10:42).

[17:31]  ¹¹ tn The participle ἀναστήσας (anasthsa") indicates means here.

[17:32]  ¹² tn The participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") has been taken temporally.

[17:32]  ¹³ tn L&N 33.408 has “some scoffed (at him) Ac 17:32” for ἐχλεύαζον (ecleuazon) here; the imperfect verb has been translated as an ingressive imperfect (“began to scoff”).

[17:33]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “left out of their midst”; the referent (the Areopagus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:34]  ¹⁵ tn Although the Greek word here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which normally refers to males, husbands, etc., in this particular context it must have a generic force similar to that of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), since “a woman named Damaris” is mentioned specifically as being part of this group (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. ἀνήρ 1.a).

[17:34]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “joining him, believed.” The participle κολληθέντες (kollhqente") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. On the use of this verb in Acts, see 5:13; 8:29; 9:26; 10:28.

[17:34]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “among whom.” Due to the length of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“whom”) has been translated as a third person plural pronoun (“them”) and a new sentence begun in the translation.

[17:34]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “the Areopagite” (a member of the council of the Areopagus). The noun “Areopagite” is not in common usage today in English. It is clearer to use a descriptive phrase “a member of the Areopagus” (L&N 11.82). However, this phrase alone can be misleading in English: “Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, and a woman named Damaris” could be understood to refer to three people (Dionysius, an unnamed member of the Areopagus, and Damaris) rather than only two. Converting the descriptive phrase to a relative clause in English (“who was a member of the Areopagus”) removes the ambiguity.

[17:34]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “and a woman”; but this καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.