Part Two · Reading the New Testament · Passages 96–98

Acts

3 passages in Greek and Latin, each with pronunciation, an English translation and a note on every word, then a practice set with answers.

Start with Acts 9:32 → Practice: Acts ▶ Acts in the video

Practice: Acts

22 questions · answers under each one

These questions use the three passages from Acts: the core words they introduce, forms to parse, places where the Latin differs from the Greek, and three more verses from Acts to read at sight.

1. Match each Greek word with its meaning.

  1. ἅγιος
  2. κατοικέω
  3. σπέρμα
  4. ἐπαγγελία
  5. πρόσωπον
  6. λαός
  7. βαπτίζω
  8. γλῶσσα
  1. face
  2. tongue, language
  3. to dwell, live
  4. seed, offspring
  5. people
  6. holy; plural as a noun: saints
  7. promise
  8. to baptize, immerse
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1–f, 2–c, 3–d, 4–g, 5–a, 6–e, 7–h, 8–b (ἅγιος = holy; plural as a noun: saints; κατοικέω = to dwell, live; σπέρμα = seed, offspring; ἐπαγγελία = promise; πρόσωπον = face; λαός = people; βαπτίζω = to baptize, immerse; γλῶσσα = tongue, language)

2. Match each Greek word with the Latin word used for it in Acts.

  1. ἅγιος
  2. κατοικέω
  3. σπέρμα
  4. πρόσωπον
  5. λαός
  6. βαπτίζω
  7. λαλέω
  8. γλῶσσα
  1. sēmen
  2. faciēs
  3. populus
  4. habitō
  5. lingua
  6. sānctus
  7. baptīzō
  8. loquor
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1–f, 2–d, 3–a, 4–b, 5–c, 6–g, 7–h, 8–e (ἅγιος = sānctus; κατοικέω = habitō; σπέρμα = sēmen; πρόσωπον = faciēs; λαός = populus; βαπτίζω = baptīzō; λαλέω = loquor; γλῶσσα = lingua)

3. Acts 19:6: ἐλάλουν τε γλώσσαις. The little word τε means “and”. Where does it stand?

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(b) never first: after the first word of what it joinsLike δέ and γάρ, τε is never placed first. Latin puts et in front: et loquēbantur.

4. Acts 13:24: πρὸ προσώπου τῆς εἰσόδου αὐτοῦ. The preposition πρό means:

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(b) before, in front ofπρό takes the genitive. “Before the face of” is a Hebrew way of saying “ahead of”. Latin: ante faciem.

5. Latin loquor (loquēbantur, Acts 19:6) is a deponent verb. This means it is:

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(b) passive in form but active in meaningloquēbantur looks passive but means “they were speaking”. Greek deponents such as ἔρχομαι work the same way.

6. Parse διερχόμενον (Acts 9:32): give its dictionary form and a full parse.

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διέρχομαι, “to go through”: present middle participle, accusative singular masculine (deponent: middle form, active meaning)-όμενον agrees with Πέτρον: “Peter, passing through”.

7. Parse κατοικοῦντας (Acts 9:32): give its dictionary form and a full parse.

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κατοικέω, “to dwell, live”: present active participle, accusative plural masculineContract verb: κατοικε- + οντας → κατοικοῦντας. With τοὺς: “those living (in Lydda)”.

8. Parse ἤγαγεν (Acts 13:23–24): give its dictionary form and a full parse.

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ἄγω, “to lead, bring”: aorist active indicative, 3rd person singularἤγαγον is the reduplicated second aorist of ἄγω (ἀγ- doubled to ἀγαγ-, then augmented).

9. Parse ἐβαπτίσθησαν (Acts 19:5–6): give its dictionary form and a full parse.

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βαπτίζω, “to baptize, immerse”: aorist passive indicative, 3rd person plural-θησαν: the aorist passive sign θη plus the 3rd plural ending -σαν: “they were baptized”.

10. Parse ἐπιθέντος (Acts 19:5–6): give its dictionary form and a full parse.

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ἐπιτίθημι, “to lay on, put on”: aorist active participle, genitive singular masculineFrom ἐπι + τίθημι. -θέντος is the genitive of the aorist active participle (θείς, θέντος). With τοῦ Παύλου it forms a genitive absolute: “Paul having laid on (hands)”.

11. Parse ἐλάλουν (Acts 19:5–6): give its dictionary form and a full parse.

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λαλέω, “to speak, talk”: imperfect active indicative, 3rd person plural (the same form can also be 1st person singular)Augment ἐ- plus the contraction λαλε- + ον: ἐ-λαλε-ον → ἐλάλουν, the imperfect, an action going on: “they were speaking”.

12. Parse γλώσσαις (Acts 19:5–6): give its dictionary form and a full parse.

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γλῶσσα, “tongue, language”: noun, dative plural feminine-αις: first-declension dative plural, “in/with tongues”. Latin linguīs (ablative).

13. Parse σπέρματος (Acts 13:23–24): give its dictionary form and a full parse.

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σπέρμα, “seed, offspring”: noun, genitive singular neuter-ματος: genitive singular of a neuter noun in -μα (σπέρμα, σπέρματος), after ἀπό.

14. Parse the Latin baptīzātī sunt (Acts 19:5–6): give its dictionary form and a full parse.

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baptīzō, baptīzāre, baptīzāvī, baptīzātum, “to baptize”: perfect passive indicative, 3rd person pluralThe perfect passive is the perfect participle (baptīzātī, masculine plural) + sunt. It renders the Greek aorist passive ἐβαπτίσθησαν.

15. Parse the Latin loquēbantur (Acts 19:5–6): give its dictionary form and a full parse.

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loquor, loquī, locūtus sum, “to speak”: imperfect indicative, 3rd person plural (deponent: passive form, active meaning)-bā- marks the imperfect; -ntur is a passive ending, but loquor is deponent: “they were speaking”, like Greek ἐλάλουν.

16. Acts 9:32: Greek ἐγένετο … Πέτρον … κατελθεῖν has Peter in the accusative with an infinitive (“it happened for Peter to come down”). Latin has factum est … ut Petrus … dēvenīret. Why is Petrus nominative?

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Latin turns the infinitive into an ut-clause with a subjunctive (dēvenīret), “it happened that Peter came down”. In a clause the subject is nominative.

17. Acts 13:24: Greek προκηρύξαντος Ἰωάννου (genitive) becomes Latin praedicante Jōanne (ablative). What construction is each?

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Greek uses a genitive absolute and Latin an ablative absolute: a noun and participle set apart from the main sentence, “John having proclaimed beforehand”.praedicante. — Outside deponent verbs Latin has no active past participle, so it uses the present participle

18. Acts 19:5: Greek ἀκούσαντες, “having heard” (an active participle agreeing with the subject), becomes Latin hīs audītīs, “these things having been heard”. Why?

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Latin has no active past participle (except in deponent verbs). It uses the perfect passive participle in an ablative absolute: hīs audītīs.

19. Acts 19:5: Greek εἰς τὸ ὄνομα, with the accusative, means “into the name”. Latin has in nōmine. What has changed?

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Latin uses in with the ablative (“in the name”), not in with the accusative (“into”). The Greek idiom of motion “into” the name becomes “in” the name.

20. Sight reading (Acts 9:9, not one of the video passages). Translate the Greek and the Latin.

Greek: καὶ ἦν ἡμέρας τρεῖς μὴ βλέπων, καὶ οὐκ ἔφαγεν οὐδὲ ἔπιεν.

Latin: Et erat ibi tribus diebus non videns, et non manducavit, neque bibit.

Help: ἔφαγεν = he ate (aorist of ἐσθίω); ἔπιεν = he drank (aorist of πίνω); mandūcō = to eat; bibō = to drink; neque = and not, nor.

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Greek: “And for three days he was without sight, and he did not eat or drink.” (word for word: “he was three days not seeing, and did not eat nor drink”). Latin: “And he was there for three days, not seeing, and he did not eat, nor drink.”Greek puts the length of time in the accusative (ἡμέρας τρεῖς); Latin here uses the ablative (tribus diēbus) and adds ibi, “there”. With a participle the negative is μή: μὴ βλέπων / nōn vidēns.

21. Sight reading (Acts 4:20, not one of the video passages). Translate the Greek and the Latin.

Greek: οὐ δυνάμεθα γὰρ ἡμεῖς ἃ εἴδαμεν καὶ ἠκούσαμεν μὴ λαλεῖν.

Latin: Non enim possumus quae vidimus et audivimus non loqui.

Help: δυνάμεθα = we are able (δύναμαι); ἅ / quae = the things which; εἴδαμεν = we saw (aorist of ὁράω); loquī = to speak (infinitive of loquor).

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Greek and Latin: “For we cannot stop speaking about the things we have seen and heard.” (word for word: “For we are not able not to speak the things which we saw and heard.”)Two negatives make a strong positive: “we cannot not speak”. γάρ and enim (for) never stand first in their sentence.

22. Sight reading (Acts 26:15, not one of the video passages). Translate the Greek and the Latin.

Greek: ἐγὼ δὲ εἶπα· Τίς εἶ, κύριε; ὁ δὲ κύριος εἶπεν· Ἐγώ εἰμι Ἰησοῦς ὃν σὺ διώκεις·

Latin: Ego autem dixi: Quis es, domine? Dominus autem dixit: Ego sum Jesus, quem tu persequeris.

Help: εἶπα = I said; διώκω = to pursue, persecute; persequor (deponent) = to persecute.

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Greek and Latin: “And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.’”κύριε / domine are vocatives (direct address); ὁ κύριος / Dominus are nominative subjects. ὅν / quem (whom) are accusative, the object of the verb.

In the PDF: passages from page 124, practice set on page 127. Open the PDF at the practice set.

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