Acts 3:12-19
3:12 When Peter saw it, he addressed the people, “You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?
3:13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him.
3:14 But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you,
3:15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.
3:16 And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.
3:17 “And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.
3:18 In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer.
3:19 Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out,
[12]ἰδὼν δὲ Πέτρος ἀπεκρίνατο πρὸς τὸν λαόν· ἄνδρες ᾿Ισραηλῖται, τί θαυμάζετε ἐπὶ τούτῳ, ἢ ἡμῖν τί ἀτενίζετε ὡς ἰδίᾳ δυνάμει ἢ εὐσεβείᾳ πεποιηκόσι τοῦ περιπατεῖν αὐτόν;
[13]ὁ Θεὸς ᾿Αβραὰμ καὶ ᾿Ισαὰκ καὶ ᾿Ιακώβ, ὁ Θεὸς τῶν πατέρων ἡμῶν, ἐδόξασε τὸν παῖδα αὐτοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦν· ὃν ὑμεῖς μὲν παρεδώκατε καὶ ἠρνήσασθε αὐτὸν κατὰ πρόσωπον Πιλάτου, κρίναντος ἐκείνου ἀπολύειν·
[14]ὑμεῖς δὲ τὸν ἅγιον καὶ δίκαιον ἠρνήσασθε, καὶ ᾐτήσασθε ἄνδρα φονέα χαρισθῆναι ὑμῖν,
[15]τὸν δὲ ἀρχηγὸν τῆς ζωῆς ἀπεκτείνατε, ὃν ὁ Θεὸς ἤγειρεν ἐκ νεκρῶν, οὗ ἡμεῖς μάρτυρές ἐσμεν.
[16]καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ τοῦτον, ὃν θεωρεῖτε καὶ οἴδατε, ἐστερέωσε τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἡ πίστις ἡ δι᾿ αὐτοῦ ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ τὴν ὁλοκληρίαν ταύτην ἀπέναντι πάντων ὑμῶν.
[17]καὶ νῦν, ἀδελφοί, οἶδα ὅτι κατὰ ἄγνοιαν ἐπράξατε, ὥσπερ καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες ὑμῶν·
[18]ὁ δὲ Θεὸς ἃ προκατήγγειλε διὰ στόματος πάντων τῶν προφητῶν αὐτοῦ παθεῖν τὸν Χριστόν, ἐπλήρωσεν οὕτω.
[19]μετανοήσατε οὖν καὶ ἐπιστρέψατε εἰς τὸ ἐξαλειφθῆναι ὑμῶν τὰς ἁμαρτίας,
[20]ὅπως ἂν ἔλθωσι καιροὶ ἀναψύξεως ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ ἀποστείλῃ τὸν προκεχειρισμένον ὑμῖν Χριστὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν,
[21]ὃν δεῖ οὐρανὸν μὲν δέξασθαι ἄχρι χρόνων ἀποκαταστάσεως πάντων ὧν ἐλάλησεν ὁ Θεὸς διὰ στόματος πάντων ἁγίων αὐτοῦ προφητῶν ἀπ᾿ αἰῶνος.
Comments
[12] ἡμῖν τί ἀτενίζετε: ‘look intently, gaze earnestly’ (already cl. Gk: LSJ s.v.); c. dat., as here, is post-cl.
‘Why are you gawking (in wonder) at us?’
[13] τὸν παῖδα αὐτοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦν: παῖς, ὁ, ἡ, ‘child, son, daughter’ (Hom., Plato, etc.); ‘slave’, ‘servant’ ((cl. poetry);
‘person of servile status’ in LXX (LSJ s.v. I & III; Muraoka s.v. 1a &2).
Exegetes must choose between ‘son’ and ‘servant’. ‘God of our fathers’ in the same verse may suggest ‘son’ by association. On the other hand, ‘glorified his παῖδα’ may imply the paradox of exalting a servant. OT resonances and other considerations will determine one’s choice.
παρεδώκατε καὶ ἠρνήσασθε αὐτὸν: παραδίδωμι, ‘I give up to justice’ (cl. Gk prose: LSJ s.v. 3), hence ‘hand over, deliver’.
ἀρνοῦμαι, c. acc. rei, ‘refuse’, ‘renounce’ something is cl. Gk (LSJ s.v.); in LXX Gk likewise ἀρνοῦμαι is construed with an acc. rei, ‘I deny the value or validity of something’ (Muraoka s.v. 2).
Here the obj. is a person: ‘You renounced him.’ One cannot but recall that Peter himself ἠρνήσατο Jesus (e.g. Jn 18:27), albeit not before Pilate. The vb is repeated in v. 14.
[15] ἀπεκτείνατε: ἀποκτείνω (later ἀποκτέννω) is an intensified form of κτείνω, ‘I kill, slay’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v. 1). Here, in effect, ‘ you murdered’.
[19] μετανοήσατε οὖν καὶ ἐπιστρέψατε εἰς τὸ ἐξαλειφθῆναι ὑμῶν τὰς ἁμαρτίας: μετανοήσατε, 2nd pers. pl. aor. imperative < μετανοῶ (έω). Τhe prefix μετα- can denote a change, something that occurs afterwards; νοῶ, ‘perceive by the mind, apprehend’ (LSJ).
*In LXX the meaning of μετανοῶ (έω) is the same as in cl. Gk.[1] Hence the meaning is ‘to change one’s mind, revise one’s previous view or design’ (Muraoka s.v.). In the present context, the vb implies a realisation of guilt.
ἐπιστρέψατε: ἐπιστρέφω, ‘turn towards and focus one’s attention and efforts on’ (Muraoka s.v. 3). Cf. ἐπιστρέψει καὶ μετανοήσει, Jl 2.14.
[1] In cl. Gk μετανοῶ = ‘I change opinion’; ‘change one’s behaviour’ (Montanari s.v.). The vb always signifies an inner change as opposed to an outer one, which may be skin-deep (verging on a masquerade such as μετασχηματίζω may connote). In Plato (Euthydemus 279c) μετανοῶ means ‘I reconsider, I realise’ (Socrates realises with a pang he has made an embarrassing intellectual error).
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 