Acts 4:25

The words form an exact quotation from the LXX (Psalms 2:1). ἵνα τί, again in quotation, Acts 7:26; cf. Luke 13:7; 1 Corinthians 10:29; twice in Matthew 9:4; Matthew 27:46, quotation; W.H [161], Blass (Weiss, ἱνατί), sc., γένηται, Blass, Grammatik des N. G., p. 14, and Winer-Schmiedel, p. 36. ἐφρύαξαν : in the active form the verb occurs once in LXX, viz., in this passage, as a translation of רָגַשׁ, φρυάσσομαι, primarily of the snorting and neighing of a high-spirited horse, then of the haughtiness and insolence of men; twice it is used as a dep. in LXX, 2Ma 7:34, R.; Acts 3:2; Acts 3:2, and so in profane writers. ἔθνη, i.e., the Gentiles, see on Acts 4:27. λαός might be used, and is used of any people, but it is used in Biblical Greek specially of the chosen people of God, cf. Luke 2:32; Acts 26:17; Acts 26:23; Romans 15:10, and it is significant that the word is transferred to the Christian community, which was thus regarded as taking the place of the Jewish theocracy, Acts 15:14; Acts 18:10, Romans 9:25, 1 Peter 2:10; Hort, Ecclesia, pp. 11, 12, Grimm, sub v., λαός; so too in the LXX, ἔθνος in the plural is used in an overwhelming number of instances of other nations besides Israel, cf. Psalms 56 (57):9, Zechariah 1:15; in N.T., ἔθνη = pagans, Romans 3:29, and Roman Christians, Romans 15:27, cf. populus, the Roman people, as opposed to gentes, Lucan, Phars., i., 82, 83 (Page); Kennedy, Sources of N. T. Greek, p. 98.

[161] Westcott and Hort's The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.