28:25a
They disagreed among themselves: Here, the word They refers to the leaders of the Jews (28:17), not including Paul. The Jews who did not believe what Paul had said were arguing with the Jews who believed what he had said. For example:
The Jews, unable to agree among themselves (God’s Word)
-or-
So they began to leave, unable to agree among themselves, after Paul made one last statement (NET Bible)
28:25b
began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: The Greek words are literally “they were leaving, Paul having said one word/saying.” There are two ways to interpret the connection between leaving and Paul saying one last thing:
(1) Paul said one last thing and then the Jews of Rome left him. For example:
they left…after Paul had said this one thing (Good News Translation)
(Berean Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Good News Translation, New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version, God’s Word, NET Bible, Revised English Bible, New Century Version)
(2) As the Jews of Rome began to leave, Paul said one last thing. For example:
as they went away, Paul had one last thing to say to them, (New Jerusalem Bible)
(New Jerusalem Bible, New Revised Standard Version, New American Bible, Revised Edition, Contemporary English Version)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), because that is the usual way that the Greek grammar is used. However, interpretation (2) is also possible. Paul, seeing his audience start to leave, may then have warned them with the prophecy of Isaiah that he quotes in 28:25–28.
Other ways to translate these clauses according to interpretation (1) are:
they began leaving after Paul had spoken one parting word (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
began leaving after Paul said one more thing to them (New Century Version)
-or-
they ⌊go ready to⌋ leave. But Paul said
28:25c
The Holy Spirit was right: This clause in Greek is literally “The Holy Spirit rightly spoke.” Other ways to translate this phrase are:
The Holy Spirit was right in saying (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
The Holy Spirit spoke rightly (NET Bible)
-or-
What the Holy Spirit said is true/right
to your fathers: Paul implied here that the message also applied to the Jews who rejected the message about Jesus. In some languages a literal translation would wrongly indicate that the message was only for the Jewish ancestors. If so, you may want to explain the implied information in a footnote. An example footnote is:
Paul clearly implied that what the Holy Spirit said here applied to the people he was speaking to as well.
your fathers:
Isaiah lived about seven hundred years before this time. So the word fathers refers to many generations earlier. For example:
your ancestors (Good News Translation)
28:25d
through Isaiah the prophet: The word through indicates that the Holy Spirit told his message to Isaiah and Isaiah wrote it in the book of Isaiah. He may have also preached it to the Jews. Other ways to translate this are:
by means of Isaiah the prophet
-or-
when he gave/told this message to Isaiah the prophet
-or-
caused the prophet Isaiah to write
prophet: See how you translated this word in 28:23.
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