22:4a–b

I persecuted this Way even to the death, detaining both men and women and throwing them into prison: The verbs detaining and throwing describe how Paul persecuted this Way even to the death. Arresting people and throwing them in prison led to conviction and punishment, which sometimes was death. For example:

I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
I persecuted this Way up to the point of death by binding both men and women and putting them in prison (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
I persecuted people who followed the way [ of Christ ]: I tied up men and women and put them into prison until they were executed. (God’s Word)

22:4a

persecuted: This word refers to causing people to suffer. Here it refers to Paul causing people to suffer because they believed in Jesus as the Christ. Other ways to translate this word here are:

oppress
-or-
harass
-or-
caused troubles ⌊because they believe in Jesus⌋

When he believed in Jesus, Paul stopped persecuting followers of the Way. In some languages a literal translation would wrongly indicate that Paul still persecuted believers. If that is true in your language, indicate the correct meaning. For example:

⌊used to⌋ persecute
-or-

⌊in the past⌋ persecuted

this Way: The Berean Standard Bible translates this Greek phrase literally. Make it clear that Paul persecuted people who obeyed this Way. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

the people of this Way
-or-
the followers of this Way (New International Version)
-or-
the people who followed this Way (Good News Translation)
-or-
the people ⌊who believed⌋ the Way ⌊that Jesus taught⌋

this Way: This phrase refers to “the Way,” as used a number of times in Acts. It refers to believing in Jesus and living as Christians. See how you translated the word Way in 9:2 or 19:23.

even to the death: This phrase in Greek can be translated literally as “even to death” or “as far as death.” Some believers died because Paul persecuted them. He convinced judges to order people to execute them. It is not clear from the New Testament whether Paul personally killed anyone, but he was responsible for their deaths. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

I even had some of them killed (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
I persecuted the people who followed the Way of Jesus, and some of them were even killed (New Century Version)

22:4b

detaining: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as detaining literally means “tie.” Here it refers to taking hold of someone for the purpose of putting him under the authority of police or others. It may have included using ropes or chains to prevent the person from escaping. Other ways to translate this word are:

tying up (NET Bible)
-or-
seized
-or-
captured
-or-
arresting (New International Version)

throwing them into prison: This phrase in Greek is literally “put in prison.” Paul forced believers to be locked in prison. Another way to translate this phrase is:

put them in prison
-or-
hand them over to prison

See how you translated this phrase in 8:3 (“put them in prison”).

prison: This word refers to a building with rooms that people can lock so that a person cannot escape. Another English word is:

jail

© 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.