Kisah Para Rasul 15:36

Paul and Barnabas Part Company

15:36 After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s return ¹  and visit the brothers in every town where we proclaimed the word of the Lord ²  to see how they are doing.” ³ 

Kisah Para Rasul 24:27

24:27 After two years ⁴  had passed, Porcius Festus ⁵  succeeded Felix, ⁶  and because he wanted to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison. ⁷ 

Kisah Para Rasul 28:11

Paul Finally Reaches Rome

28:11 After three months we put out to sea ⁸  in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered at the island and had the “Heavenly Twins” ⁹  as its figurehead. ¹⁰ 

[15:36]  ¹ tn Grk “Returning let us visit.” The participle ἐπιστρέψαντες (epistreyante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[15:36]  ² tn See the note on the phrase “word of the Lord” in v. 35.

[15:36]  ³ tn BDAG 422 s.v. ἔχω 10.b has “how they are” for this phrase.

[24:27]  ⁴ tn Grk “After a two-year period.”

[24:27]  ⁵ sn Porcius Festus was the procurator of Palestine who succeeded Felix; neither the beginning nor the end of his rule (at his death) can be determined with certainty, although he appears to have died in office after about two years. Nero recalled Felix in a.d. 57 or 58, and Festus was appointed to his vacant office in a.d. 57, 58, or 59. According to Josephus (Ant. 20.8.9-10 [20.182-188]; J. W. 2.14.1 [2.271-272]), his administration was better than that of his predecessor Felix or his successor Albinus, but Luke in Acts portrays him in a less favorable light: He was willing to sacrifice Paul to court Jewish favor by taking him to Jerusalem for trial (v. 9), regardless of Paul’s guilt or innocence. The one characteristic for which Festus was noted is that he dealt harshly with those who disturbed the peace.

[24:27]  ⁶ tn Grk “Felix received as successor Porcius Festus.”

[24:27]  sn See the note on Felix in 23:26.

[24:27]  ⁷ tn Grk “left Paul imprisoned.”

[24:27]  sn Felix left Paul in prison. Luke makes the point that politics got in the way of justice here; keeping Paul in prison was a political favor to the Jews.

[28:11]  ⁸ tn BDAG 62 s.v. ἀνάγω 4, “as a nautical t.t. (ἀ. τὴν ναῦν put a ship to sea), mid. or pass. ἀνάγεσθαι to begin to go by boat, put out to sea.”

[28:11]  ⁹ tn Or “the ‘Twin Gods’”; Grk “the Dioscuri” (a joint name for the pagan deities Castor and Pollux).

[28:11]  sn That had the ‘Heavenly Twins’ as its figurehead. The twin brothers Castor and Pollux, known collectively as the Dioscuri or ‘Heavenly Twins,’ were the twin sons of Zeus and Leda according to Greek mythology. The Alexandrian ship on which Paul and his companions sailed from Malta had a carved emblem or figurehead of these figures, and they would have been the patron deities of the vessel. Castor and Pollux were the “gods of navigation.” To see their stars was considered a good omen (Epictetus, Discourses 2.18.29; Lucian of Samosata, The Ship 9).

[28:11]  ¹⁰ tn Or “as its emblem.”