SIL Translator’s Notes on Acts 16:28

16:28

Paul called out in a loud voice: This clause in Greek is literally “Paul shouted/called-out with a great voice.” For example:

Paul shouted at the top of his voice (Good News Translation)

The Berean Standard Bible allows the meaning “with a great voice” to be implied by the words called out in a loud voice.

Do not harm yourself! We are all here!: The Greek conjunction that is often translated “for” introduces the second clause. The second clause explains why the jailer should not harm himself. For example:

Do not harm yourself, for we are all here. (Revised Standard Version)

The Berean Standard Bible allows the context to indicate that the second clause is the reason and omits the Greek conjunction.

Do not harm yourself!: This clause in Greek is literally “Do nothing bad to yourself.” Paul somehow understood that the jailer was about to kill himself, so told him to not do that. Other ways to translate this clause are:

Don’t hurt yourself! (God’s Word)
-or-
Stop! Don’t kill yourself! (New Living Translation (2004))

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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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