5:23a

The Greek begins with the words that mean “saying that.” But the words “with the report” followed by a colon (:) in 5:22b already introduces the direct speech, so many languages will not need to translate these Greek words.

We found the jail securely locked: The Greek is more literally “we found the jail locked with all security.” This clause indicates that the temple officers examined the cell that the apostles were in and probably other parts of the jail, such as the door to the outside, and saw that all security measures were good. Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

We saw that the jail was locked with all security
-or-
We examined the jail and saw that it was locked and everything was proper

with the guards posted at the doors: This implies that the guards were guarding the doors well.

5:23b

no one inside: These words indicate that the apostles were not in the jail cell when the officers looked for them.

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