2:46a

they continued to meet daily: The phrase meet daily applies to all the activities in 2:46a–47a.

in the temple courts: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as temple courts is literally “temple.” But the Greek word refers to the temple building and the walls and the various courtyards that surrounded it. Only the priests were allowed into the temple itself. People met in the courtyards to worship. Therefore the Berean Standard Bible translates the Greek word as temple courts here.

temple: The temple was in Jerusalem and was the most important place where Jews worshiped God. Priests served in the temple and presented the people’s sacrifices to the Lord.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

• Use a descriptive phrase. For example:

God’s house
-or-
house of sacrifice
-or-
holy/sacred house

• If your language has a word for temple, consider using it. But you may need to explain in the text that it is God’s temple. For example:

temple of the Lord

Be sure to use a word or phrase for the temple that is different from the one you use for a “synagogue.”

courts: Surrounding the temple was the courtyard of priests and surrounding that was the courtyard of Jewish men. There was also an area for Jewish women. Surrounding all of that was the courtyard of the Gentiles (non-Jewish people). The location of their daily meetings was probably in this last courtyard. Here are some other ways to translate this word:

⌊surrounding⌋ areas
-or-

⌊outer⌋ yards

You should make it clear that they did not meet inside the temple building where only the priests could go.

2:46b

to break bread from house to house: The phrase break bread is an idiom. It means “eat a meal.” The believers regularly ate together. The whole clause may imply eating the Lord’s Supper together as well. Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

they had their meals together in their homes (Good News Translation)
-or-
They ate together in their homes (New Century Version)

See how you translated this phrase in 2:42b (“the breaking of bread”).

from house to house: The Berean Standard Bible literally represents the Greek here. This phrase indicates that they regularly changed which houses they ate in. For example:

at each other’s homes (God’s Word)
-or-
in their homes (New International Version)

With more than three thousand believers, they met in many houses.

sharing their meals with gladness and sincerity of heart: This clause describes the way they ate their meals together (“broke bread”).

sincerity: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as sincerity is a rare word that literally means “not rocky.” There are several ways to interpret it in its figurative sense here:

(1) It means uncomplicated here. For example:

singleness (King James Version)

(King James Version)

(2) It means sincere here. For example:

sincerity (New American Standard Bible)

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition)

(3) It means humble here. For example:

humble (Good News Translation)

(Good News Translation, God’s Word, NET Bible)

(4) It means generous here. For example:

generous hearts (Revised Standard Version)

(Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New Living Translation (2004), Contemporary English Version, English Standard Version)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), because the BDAG, L&S, and M&M lexicons support it. But if the major language version in your area follows interpretation (2), you may want to follow that.

heart: Here the word heart refers figuratively to the mind, emotions, and will of a person. It refers to the part of a person that he uses to think, feel, and make decisions. See how you translated this word in 2:26.

© 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.