Acts 25:4-6

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Acts 25:4 sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.
2. Acts 25:4 sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi). See the note on Caesarea in Acts 10:1.
3. Acts 25:4 tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text but is implied.
4. Acts 25:5 tn Grk “let those who are influential among you” (i.e., the powerful).
5. Acts 25:5 tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.
6. Acts 25:5 tn Grk “and if there is anything wrong with this man,” but this could be misunderstood in English to mean a moral or physical defect, while the issue in context is the commission of some crime, something legally improper (BDAG 149 s.v. ἄτοπος 2).
7. Acts 25:5 tn BDAG 533 s.v. κατηγορέω 1 states, “nearly always as legal t.t.: bring charges in court.” L&N 33.427 states for κατηγορέω, “to bring serious charges or accusations against someone, with the possible connotation of a legal or court context—‘to accuse, to bring charges.”
8. Acts 25:6 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Festus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9. Acts 25:6 tn Grk “Having stayed.” The participle διατρίψας (diatripsas) has been taken temporally.
10. Acts 25:6 sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi). See the note on Caesarea in Acts 10:1.
11. Acts 25:6 tn Grk “sitting down…he ordered.” The participle καθίσας (kathisas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
12. Acts 25:6 tn Although BDAG 175 s.v. βῆμα 3 gives the meaning “tribunal” for this verse, and a number of modern translations use similar terms (“court,” NIV; “tribunal,” NRSV), since the bēma was a standard feature in Greco-Roman cities of the time, there is no need for an alternative translation here.sn The judgment seat (βῆμα, bēma) was a raised platform mounted by steps and sometimes furnished with a seat, used by officials in addressing an assembly or making pronouncements, often on judicial matters. The judgment seat was a familiar item in Greco-Roman culture, often located in the agora, the public square or marketplace in the center of a city.