Acts 3:12

ἰδὼν δέ. Seeing, viz. their astonishment, as we may gather from his opening words, τί θαυμάζετε.

ἀπεκπίνατο, gave answer, i.e. to their looks, for there had been no words. This word, like the Hebr. ענה, is frequently used for the first utterance of a speaker, unevoked by any question. Cf. (LXX. and Hebrew) Deuteronomy 21:7; Deuteronomy 26:5; Deuteronomy 27:14. So too Acts 5:8, where Peter is said to have answered Sapphira, though she had said nothing, as far as we are told, and where the Apostle’s words are a question.

ἐπὶ τούτῳ, ‘at this man,’ as is evidenced by the pronoun being αὐτόν at the end of the verse.

ἰδίᾳ δυνάμει. As he had said to the crippled man, so now he makes it clear to the crowd, that the name of Jesus is the power to which the cure is due.

εὐσεβείᾳ. That extreme devotion to God was sometimes conceived to obtain miraculous power for its reward may be gathered from such narratives as the raising of the widow’s son by Elijah (1 Kings 17:24). The mother seeing her son restored to her says, ‘Now by this I know that thou art a man of God.’ Cf. also Nicodemus’ statement, John 3:2.

πεποιηκόσιν τοῦ περιπατεῖν αὐτόν, having made him to walk. This genitive of the infinitive is such a harsh construction after a verb with which a direct infinitive would be expected, that it is worth while to give a few illustrations of it, mainly from the LXX. 1 Chronicles 17:6 οἷς ἐνετειλάμην τοῦ ποιμαίνειν τὸν λαόν μου, compared with 1 Kings 17:4 καὶ τοῖς κόραξιν ἐντελοῦμαι διατρέφειν σε ἐκεῖ. So too Isaiah 5:6 ταῖς νεφέλαις ἐντελοῦμαι τοῦ μὴ βρέξαι εἰς αὐτὸν ὑετόν. The construction is also found Genesis 37:18 ἐπονηρεύοντο τοῦ� Exodus 2:18 διὰ τί ἐταχύνατε τοῦ παραγενέσθαι σήμερον; ‘How is it that ye are come so soon to-day?’ (A.V.). Cf. also Acta Andr. Apocryph. 14 ἄλλοι οὖν καὶ ἄλλοι ἐπετήδευον τοῦ λῦσαι αὐτόν, and Acta Petri et Pauli, 5, ᾐτήσαντο Καίσαρα τοῦ�.