19:37a

This verse implies that the city clerk thought that what the crowd had already done was rash.

these men: This phrase refers to Gaius and Aristarchus.

19:37b

robbed our temple: People of that time considered robbing the temple a serious crime. In some languages a literal translation would not indicate or imply a serious crime. If that is true in your language, you way want to:

• Translate literally and explain its meaning in a footnote. An example footnote is:

People of that time considered robbing the temple a serious crime.

• Explain it in your translation. For example:

⌊done the serious crime of⌋ robbing temples

The Greek word also has a more general meaning of any deed against religion. For example:

guilty of any sacrilege (New Jerusalem Bible)

blasphemed: This word refers to hurting someone’s reputation. Here it refers to saying something that dishonors the goddess Artemis. Other ways to translate this word are:

said evil things about (Good News Translation)
-or-
cursed
-or-
spoken against (New Living Translation (2004))

our goddess: This phrase refers to Artemis.

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