Kisah Para Rasul 8:1-3

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

Saul Begins to Persecute the Church

Now on that day a great ²  persecution began ³  against the church in Jerusalem, ⁴  and all ⁵  except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions ⁶  of Judea and Samaria. 8:2 Some ⁷  devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation ⁸  over him. ⁹  8:3 But Saul was trying to destroy ¹⁰  the church; entering one house after another, he dragged off ¹¹  both men and women and put them in prison. ¹² 

Kisah Para Rasul 9:1-2

The Conversion of Saul

9:1 Meanwhile Saul, still breathing out threats ¹³  to murder ¹⁴  the Lord’s disciples, went to the high priest 9:2 and requested letters from him to the synagogues ¹⁵  in Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, ¹⁶  either men or women, he could bring them as prisoners ¹⁷  to Jerusalem. ¹⁸ 

Kisah Para Rasul 9:13-14

9:13 But Ananias replied, ¹⁹  “Lord, I have heard from many people ²⁰  about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem, 9:14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to imprison ²¹  all who call on your name!” ²² 

Kisah Para Rasul 9:26

Saul Returns to Jerusalem

9:26 When he arrived in Jerusalem, ²³  he attempted to associate ²⁴  with the disciples, and they were all afraid of him, because they did not believe ²⁵  that he was a disciple.

[8:1]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Or “severe.”

[8:1]  ³ 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]  ⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[8:1]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Or “countryside.”

[8:2]  ⁷ tn “Some” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[8:2]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Or “mourned greatly for him.”

[8:3]  ¹⁰ tn Or “began to harm [the church] severely.” If the nuance of this verb is “destroy,” then the imperfect verb ἐλυμαίνετο (elumaineto) is best translated as a conative imperfect as in the translation above. If instead the verb is taken to mean “injure severely” (as L&N 20.24), it should be translated in context as an ingressive imperfect (“began to harm the church severely”). Either option does not significantly alter the overall meaning, since it is clear from the stated actions of Saul in the second half of the verse that he intended to destroy or ravage the church.

[8:3]  ¹¹ tn The participle σύρων (surwn) has been translated as an finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[8:3]  ¹² tn BDAG 762 s.v. παραδίδωμι 1.b has “εἰς φυλακήν put in prison Ac 8:3.”

[9:1]  ¹³ tn Or “Saul, making dire threats.”

[9:1]  ¹⁴ tn The expression “breathing out threats and murder” is an idiomatic expression for “making threats to murder” (see L&N 33.293). Although the two terms “threats” and “murder” are syntactically coordinate, the second is semantically subordinate to the first. In other words, the content of the threats is to murder the disciples.

[9:2]  ¹⁵ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[9:2]  ¹⁶ sn The expression “the way” in ancient religious literature refers at times to “the whole way of life fr. a moral and spiritual viewpoint” (BDAG 692 s.v. ὁδός 3.c), and it has been so used of Christianity and its teachings in the book of Acts (see also 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22). It is a variation of Judaism’s idea of two ways, the true and the false, where “the Way” is the true one (1 En. 91:18; 2 En. 30:15).

[9:2]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “bring them bound”; the translation “bring someone as prisoner” for δεδεμένον ἄγειν τινά (dedemenon agein tina) is given by BDAG 221 s.v. δέω 1.b.

[9:2]  ¹⁸ sn From Damascus to Jerusalem was a six-day journey. Christianity had now expanded into Syria.

[9:2]  map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[9:13]  ¹⁹ sn Ananias replied. Past events might have suggested to Ananias that this was not good counsel, but like Peter in Acts 10, Ananias’ intuitions were wrong.

[9:13]  ²⁰ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[9:14]  ²¹ tn Grk “to bind.”

[9:14]  ²² sn The expression “those who call on your name” is a frequent description of believers (Acts 2:21; 1 Cor 1:2; Rom 10:13).

[9:26]  ²³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[9:26]  ²⁴ tn Or “join.”

[9:26]  ²⁵ tn The participle πιστεύοντες (pisteuonte") has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.