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25 nor is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything,[a] because he himself gives life and breath and everything to everyone.[b] 26 From one man[c] he made every nation of the human race[d] to inhabit the entire earth,[e] determining their set times[f] and the fixed limits of the places where they would live,[g] 27 so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around[h] for him and find him,[i] though he is[j] not far from each one of us.

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Footnotes

  1. Acts 17:25 tn L&N 57.45 has “nor does he need anything more that people can supply by working for him.”
  2. Acts 17:25 tn Grk “he himself gives to all [people] life and breath and all things.”
  3. Acts 17:26 sn The one man refers to Adam (the word “man” is understood).
  4. Acts 17:26 tn Or “mankind.” BDAG 276 s.v. ἔθνος 1 has “every nation of humankind Ac 17:26.”
  5. Acts 17:26 tn Grk “to live over all the face of the earth.”
  6. Acts 17:26 tn BDAG 884-85 s.v. προστάσσω has “(οἱ) προστεταγμένοι καιροί (the) fixed times Ac 17:26” here, but since the following phrase is also translated “fixed limits,” this would seem redundant in English, so the word “set” has been used instead.
  7. Acts 17:26 tn Grk “the boundaries of their habitation.” L&N 80.5 has “fixed limits of the places where they would live” for this phrase.
  8. Acts 17:27 tn See BDAG 1097-98 s.v. ψηλαφάω, which lists “touch, handle” and “to feel around for, grope for” as possible meanings.
  9. Acts 17:27 sn Perhaps grope around for him and find him. The pagans’ struggle to know God is the point here. Conscience alone is not good enough.
  10. Acts 17:27 tn The participle ὑπάρχοντα (huparchonta) has been translated as a concessive adverbial participle.