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Acts 23 General Notes
Structure and formatting
Some translations prefer to set apart quotations of the Old Testament. The ULB and many other English translations indent the lines of 23:5-9, which is a quotation from the Old Testament.
Special concepts in this chapter
"Whitewashed"
This is a common metaphor in Scripture for those who appear righteous but are not. (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor and rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/righteous)
Resurrection of the dead
The Pharisees believed that, after death, people would be risen from the dead for punishment or reward. The Sadducees did not share this belief. They only trusted in the physical world. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/other/raise and rc://en/tw/dict/bible/other/reward)
Important figures of speech in this chapter
"Called a curse"
Some Jews made a promise to God that they would not eat or drink until they killed Paul, and asked God to curse them if they did not follow their promise. This is not something that would have pleased God, and they were clearly wrong for doing this. It is ironic that they used a holy vow in such an unholy way. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/curse, rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-irony, rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/holy, rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/vow and rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/unholy)
Other possible translation difficulties in this chapter
Roman citizenship
Men who had Roman citizenship were given many privileges. For example, they could appeal to Caesar if they were accused of a crime. Having Roman citizenship was very valuable and people would go to great lengths to attain citizenship. This "chief captain" could have gotten intotrouble for treating a Roman citizen in this way.