SIL Translator’s Notes on Acts 5:26

5:26a

At that point: This phrase introduces what happened next. The captain and his officers going to the apostles (5:26) is an implied result of the report about the apostles being in the temple courts (5:25). Here are some other ways to translate this:

Then (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
So (Good News Translation)

the captain went with the officers: This clause indicates that the captain decided to go and ordered the officers to go with him. Here are some other ways to translate this:

Taking his officers, the captain went
-or-
The captain ordered his officers to follow him and he/they went

captain: See how you translated this word in 5:24.

officers: See how you translated this word in 5:22.

5:26b

brought the apostles—but not by force: The Greek is more literally “brought them not with force.” It indicates that the captain and temple police brought the apostles back gently. They did not shove or hit them. Here are some other ways to translate this:

brought them, but without violence (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
brought them, not with force (LEB)
-or-
brought them but they did not push or force them
-or-
brought them gently

brought the apostles: In some languages only children are brought. See how you translated the word brought in 5:19.

apostles: See how you translated this word in 5:21.

5:26b–c

brought…for fear: The Greek is more literally “were bringing…were fearing.” It indicates that the temple police were not using force as they brought the apostles because the temple police were afraid.

Some languages can naturally indicate that these events occurred for some time. For example:

were(duratively) bringing…were(duratively) fearing

But many languages, such as English, cannot naturally indicate duration here. And a time phrase would imply incorrect meaning. It is more natural to use the normal past tense, like the Berean Standard Bible and many English versions do.

5:26c

the people would stone them: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as stone refers to throwing stones at someone to chase away or hurt or kill them. For example:

the people might start throwing stones at them (Contemporary English Version)

them: This word refers to the captain and the temple police. It does not refer to the apostles here. Some languages will need to explain this to be clear. For example:

the officers/police

General Comment on 5:26b–c

Here, the reason (they feared being stoned) occurs after the result (they brought the apostles without violence). Some languages must put a reason before a result. For example:

26cThey feared that the people would stone them, therefore 26a–bthe captain went with the officers and brought the apostles but without force/violence at that point.
-or-

26cThey feared that the people would stone them, therefore 26a–bthe captain and his officers were not forceful/violent when they went and brought the apostles.

© 2001, 2021 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

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