Acts 15:20-22

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Acts 15:20 tn The translation “to write a letter, to send a letter to” for ἐπιστέλλω (epistellō) is given in L&N 33.49.
2. Acts 15:20 tn Three of the four prohibitions deal with food (the first, third and fourth) while one prohibition deals with behavior (the second, refraining from sexual immorality). Since these occur in the order they do, the translation “abstain from” is used to cover both sorts of activity (eating food items, immoral behavior). sn Telling them to abstain. These restrictions are not on matters of salvation, but are given as acts of sensitivity to their Jewish brethren, as v. 21 makes clear. Another example of such sensitivity is seen in 1 Cor 10:14-11:1.
3. Acts 15:20 tn Or “polluted.”
4. Acts 15:20 sn What has been strangled. That is, to refrain from eating animals that had been killed without having the blood drained from them. According to the Mosaic law (Lev 17:13-14), Jews were forbidden to eat flesh with the blood still in it (note the following provision in Acts 15:20, and from blood).
5. Acts 15:21 tn Grk “from generations of old”; the translation “fr. ancient times” is given by BDAG 192 s.v. γενεά 3.b.
6. Acts 15:21 tn The translation “read aloud” is used to indicate the actual practice; translating as “read” could be misunderstood to mean private, silent reading.
7. Acts 15:21 sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.
8. Acts 15:22 tn BDAG 255 s.v. δοκέω 2.b.β lists this verse under the meaning “it seems best to me, I decide, I resolve.”
9. Acts 15:22 sn Silas. See 2 Cor 1:19; 1 Thess 1:1; 2 Thess 1:1 (= Silvanus).
10. Acts 15:22 sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia).