37. Upper chamber. See on ch. i. 13.
38. That he would not delay (yu) dxvfjcac). The best texts read oxvjons, putting the request in the form of a direct ad- dress, Delay not.
To come (dieASe@v). Lit., to come through. Rev., come on.
39. Coats and garments. See on Matt. v. 40.
Which (éca). Lit., as many as.
Made (ézoée:). The imperfect: was accustomed to make.
CHAP TERA. 1. Centurion. See on Luke vii. 2. Band (ovedpys). See on Mark xv. 16.
Italian. Probably because consisting of Roman soldiers, and not of natives of the country.
2. Devout (evce@rs). See on godliness, 2 Pet. i. 3.
Cu. X.] THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 497 Prayed (Seduevos). See on prayers, Luke v. 33.
“Unheard by all but angel ears The good Cornelius knelt alone, Nor dream’d his prayers and tears Would help a world undone.
“The while upon his terrac’d roof The lov’d apostle to his Lord, ‘ In silent thought aloof For heavenly vision soared.” KEBLE, Christian Year.
38. A vision. See on ch. vii. 31.
Evidently (¢avepds). Better, clearly or distinctly, as op- posed to a fancy.
4. When he looked (drevicas). Rev., more accurately, fas- tening his eyes. Compare ch. vii. 55; and see on Luke iv. 20.
6. Atanner. Showing that the strictness of the Jewish law was losing its hold on Peter; since the tanner’s occupation was regarded as unclean by strict Jews, and the tanners were com- manded to dwell apart. “If a tanner married without men- tioning his trade, his wife was permitted to getadivorce. The law of levirate marriage might be set aside if the brother-in-law of the childless widow was a tanner. A tanner’s yard must be at least fifty cubits from any town” (Farrar, “ Life and Work of St. Paul”).
By the seaside. Outside the walls, both for proximity to the business, and because of the ceremonial requirement re- ferred to above. Mr. William C. Prime, describing a visit to Joppa, says: “I was walking along the sea-beach, looking for shells, and at about a fourth of a mile from the city, to the southward, I found two tanneries directly on the seaside. I ob- served that the rocks in front of them were covered with the water a few inches deep, and that they soaked their hides on these rocks, and also submitted them to some process in the
32
498 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Grex
water which I did not stop to understand” (‘Tent-life in the Holy Land ”).
Of them that waited on him continually (spooxaprtepovv- tov avTod). See on ch. i. 14.
8. Declared (é&nynodpuevos). Better, as Rev., rehearsed. See on Luke xxiv. 35.
9. They (éxetvwv). Zhose messengers, the servants and the soldier. The pronoun has a more specific reference than the English they.
10. Very hungry (apoo7rewvos). Only here in New Testa- ment.
Would have eaten (iJede yevoaodar). Rev., correctly, de- sired to eat. TevéoSar is rendered both to eat and to taste, more frequently the latter. See Matt. xxvii. 34; John ii. 9; 1 Pet. ii. 83; and compare Acts xx. 11.
He fell into a trance (ééecev én’ adtov éxotacts). Lit., an ecstasy fell upon him. The best texts, however, read éyévero, came upon him, or happened to him. See on astonishment, Mark v. 42. Luke alone employs the word in this sense of ecstasy or trance.
11. Saw (Sewpe?). Rev., better, and more literally, beholdeth. See on Luke x. 18. The present tense is graphically introduced into the narrative.
Unto him. The best texts omit.
Sheet (dIovny). Only here and ch. xi. 5. Originally fine linen ; later, sazl-cloth or a sail. Dr. J. Rawson Lumby sug- gests that the word, “applied to loose, bellying sails of ships,” may indicate that the form of vessel which appeared to Peter “recalled an image most familiar to his previous life—the