Bilangan 6:23-26

6:23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is the way ¹  you are to bless ²  the Israelites. Say ³  to them:

6:24 “The Lord bless you ⁴  and protect ⁵  you;

6:25 The Lord make his face to shine upon you,

and be gracious to you; ⁶ 

6:26 The Lord lift up his countenance upon you ⁷ 

and give you peace.”’

Bilangan 6:1

The Nazirite Vow

6:1 ⁸ Then the Lord spoke to Moses:

Kisah Para Rasul 8:1

8:1 And Saul agreed completely with killing ⁹  him.

Saul Begins to Persecute the Church

Now on that day a great ¹⁰  persecution began ¹¹  against the church in Jerusalem, ¹²  and all ¹³  except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions ¹⁴  of Judea and Samaria.

Kisah Para Rasul 8:1-2

8:1 And Saul agreed completely with killing ¹⁵  him.

Saul Begins to Persecute the Church

Now on that day a great ¹⁶  persecution began ¹⁷  against the church in Jerusalem, ¹⁸  and all ¹⁹  except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions ²⁰  of Judea and Samaria. 8:2 Some ²¹  devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation ²²  over him. ²³ 

Kisah Para Rasul 1:1

Jesus Ascends to Heaven

1:1 I wrote ²⁴  the former ²⁵  account, ²⁶  Theophilus, ²⁷  about all that Jesus began to do and teach

Ibrani 7:7

7:7 Now without dispute the inferior is blessed by the superior,

[6:23]  ¹ tn Or “thus.”

[6:23]  ² tn The Piel imperfect has the nuance of instruction. The particle “thus” explains that the following oracle is the form to use.

[6:23]  ³ tn Here is the only use of the verb אָמַר (’amar) as an infinitive absolute; it functions as a verb form, an imperative or an imperfect of instruction. Several commentators have attempted to emend the text to get around the difficulty, but such emendations are unnecessary.

[6:24]  ⁴ tn The short blessing uses the jussive throughout, here the Piel jussive with a pronominal suffix. While the jussive has quite a range of nuances, including wish, desire, prayer, or greeting, the jussives here are stronger. The formal subject of the verb is the Lord, and the speaker pronouncing the blessing is the priest, notably after emerging from the holy of holies where atonement has been made. The Lord says in this passage that when the priest says this, then the Lord will bless them. The jussive then is an oracle, not a wish or a prayer. It is a declaration of what the Lord imparts. It is as binding and sure as a patriarchal blessing which once said officially could not be taken back. The priest here is then pronouncing the word of the Lord, declaring to the congregation the outcome of the atonement.

[6:24]  ⁵ tn The verb “to keep” concerns the divine protection of the people; its basic meaning is “to exercise great care over,” “to guard,” or “to give attention to” (see TWOT 2:939). No doubt the priestly blessing informed the prayer and promise that makes up Ps 121, for the verb occurs six times in the eight verses. So in addition to the divine provision (“bless” basically means “enrich” in a number of ways) there is the assurance of divine protection.

[6:25]  ⁶ tn Whereas the first line of the blessing had three Hebrew words, the second has five, and the third has seven. In this second line and the following third, the blessing takes the form of an emblem followed by the truth. For the Lord to make his face shine on them would mean to be gracious to them. M. Noth rightly calls this image of the shining face “a figure of speech for benevolence and favour” (Numbers [OTL], 59); see, for example, Pss 4:7; 31:17; 44:4; 67:2; 80:4, 8, 20; 119:135; Dan 9:17). The image may have its inspiration in the theophanies. The picture is of divine favor – the beaming face of a parent for his beloved.

[6:26]  ⁷ tn The last line of the blessing also has first the image and then the parallel interpretation – for God to lift up his face is for God to give peace. The idea of the fallen face is one of anger (see Gen 4:6,7); and the idea of the hidden face is that of withholding support, favor, or peace (see Deut 31:18; Ps 30:8; Ps 44:25). If God lifts his face toward his people, it means he has given them peace – peace, prosperity, completeness, health, safety, general well-being, and the like.

[6:1]  ⁸ sn This chapter can be divided into five sections: The vow is described in vv. 1-8, then the contingencies for defilement are enumerated in vv. 9-12, then there is a discussion of discharging the vows in vv. 13-20, and then a summary in v. 21; after this is the high priestly blessing (vv. 22-27). For information on the vow, see G. B. Gray, “The Nazirite,” JTS 1 (1899-1900): 201-11; Z. Weisman, “The Biblical Nazirite, Its Types and Roots,” Tarbiz 36 (1967): 207-20; and W. Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament (OTL), 1:303-6.

[8:1]  ⁹ tn The term ἀναίρεσις (anairesi") can refer to murder (BDAG 64 s.v.; 2 Macc 5:13; Josephus, Ant. 5.2.12 [5.165]).

[8:1]  ¹⁰ tn Or “severe.”

[8:1]  ¹¹ tn Grk “Now there happened on that day a great persecution.” It is less awkward to say in English “Now on that day a great persecution began.”

[8:1]  ¹² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[8:1]  ¹³ sn All. Given that the Jerusalem church is still active after this and that the Hellenists are the focus of Acts 6-8, it is possible to argue that only the Hellenistic Christians were forced to scatter.

[8:1]  ¹⁴ tn Or “countryside.”

[8:1]  ¹⁵ tn The term ἀναίρεσις (anairesi") can refer to murder (BDAG 64 s.v.; 2 Macc 5:13; Josephus, Ant. 5.2.12 [5.165]).

[8:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “severe.”

[8:1]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “Now there happened on that day a great persecution.” It is less awkward to say in English “Now on that day a great persecution began.”

[8:1]  ¹⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[8:1]  ¹⁹ sn All. Given that the Jerusalem church is still active after this and that the Hellenists are the focus of Acts 6-8, it is possible to argue that only the Hellenistic Christians were forced to scatter.

[8:1]  ²⁰ tn Or “countryside.”

[8:2]  ²¹ tn “Some” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[8:2]  ²² sn Made loud lamentation. For someone who was stoned to death, lamentation was normally not allowed (m. Sanhedrin 6:6). The remark points to an unjust death.

[8:2]  ²³ tn Or “mourned greatly for him.”

[1:1]  ²⁴ tn Or “produced,” Grk “made.”

[1:1]  ²⁵ tn Or “first.” The translation “former” is preferred because “first” could imply to the modern English reader that the author means that his previous account was the first one to be written down. The Greek term πρῶτος (prwtos) does not necessarily mean “first” in an absolute sense, but can refer to the first in a set or series. That is what is intended here – the first account (known as the Gospel of Luke) as compared to the second one (known as Acts).

[1:1]  ²⁶ tn The Greek word λόγος (logos) is sometimes translated “book” (NRSV, NIV) or “treatise” (KJV). A formal, systematic treatment of a subject is implied, but the word “book” may be too specific and slightly misleading to the modern reader, so “account” has been used.

[1:1]  sn The former account refers to the Gospel of Luke, which was “volume one” of the two-volume work Luke-Acts.

[1:1]  ²⁷ tn Grk “O Theophilus,” but the usage of the vocative in Acts with ὦ (w) is unemphatic, following more the classical idiom (see ExSyn 69).