Section 22:22–29
The Roman commander questioned Paul
In this section, the crowd of Jews became angry and began shouting, because they heard that Paul would go to the Gentiles. The Roman commander ordered his soldiers to bring Paul into the barracks. He told his soldiers to flog Paul so that Paul would tell them why the crowd was so angry. They tied his hands spread apart so they could flog his back. Paul told them that he was a Roman citizen. It was illegal in Roman law to flog or even chain a Roman citizen before going to court and a judge hearing his case. When they learned that he was a Roman citizen, they did not flog him.
Other examples of headings for this section are:
The consequence of Paul’s speech (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
Paul and the Roman Army Commander (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Paul was a Roman citizen so the Roman officer did not flog him
Paragraph 22:22
22:22a
The crowd: The Greek word is literally “they.” It refers to the crowd of people last mentioned in 21:40–22:2. So the Berean Standard Bible explains the pronoun here using the phrase The crowd. Other ways to translate this Greek word are:
they (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
The people (Good News Translation)
until he made this statement: This phrase in Greek is literally “as far as this word.” “This word” refers to the last sentence that Paul spoke (22:21) or possibly just the word “Gentiles,” since Jews did not like Gentiles and Paul had been accused of bringing a Gentile into the temple area reserved for Jews, which was against their law. Other ways to translate this phrase are:
as far as those words
-or-
up to those words that he spoke
-or-
but then they stopped listening
22:22b
Then: The Greek conjunction is usually translated in English as “and.” The crowd stopped listening (22:22a) and now they begin shouting.
they lifted up their voices and shouted: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as shouted is literally “saying.” All the words together mean “they shouted.” Other ways to translate it are:
they shouted (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
they shouted ⌊angrily⌋
The context implies that they shouted the words of 22:22c more than once. For example:
they began to shout (New Jerusalem Bible)
22:22c
Rid the earth of him: This clause in Greek is literally “Take from the earth such a (person).” This idiom (and the Berean Standard Bible) means “kill him.” In some languages a literal translation has the correct meaning. Other ways to translate this clause are:
Away with such a fellow from the earth! (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
Remove this man from the earth!
In some languages a literal translation would not have the correct meaning. If that is true in your language, you may want to:
• Explain the idiom in your translation. For example:
Kill him, and rid the earth of such a man! (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
• Use an idiom from your language that has that meaning.
• Translate the meaning of the idiom. For example:
Kill him! (God’s Word)
-or-
End his life!
him: This word in Greek is literally “such a (person).” It shows that the crowd had no respect for Paul. For example:
such a fellow (Revised Standard Version)
He is not fit to live: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as fit means “is proper.” The crowd believed that Paul was so bad that the only right or proper thing to do was to kill him.
The Greek clause indicates that this idea was true in the past as well as at the present time. Other ways to translate this clause are:
It is not right that he has lived this long!
-or-
The only right/proper thing to do with such a person is to kill him!
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