Acts 2:24

God raised up

(ο θεος ανεστησεν). Est hoc summum orationis (Blass). Apparently this is the first public proclamation to others than believers of the fact of the Resurrection of Jesus. "At a time it was still possible to test the statement, to examine witnesses, to expose fraud, the Apostle openly proclaimed the Resurrection as a fact, needing no evidence, but known to his hearers" (Furneaux).The pangs of death

(τας ωδινας του θανατου). Codex Bezae has "Hades" instead of death. The LXX has ωδινας θανατου in Psalms 18:4, but the Hebrew original means "snares" or "traps" or "cords" of death where sheol and death are personified as hunters laying snares for prey. How Peter or Luke came to use the old Greek word ωδινας (birth pangs) we do not know. Early Christian writers interpreted the Resurrection of Christ as a birth out of death. "Loosing" (λυσας) suits better the notion of "snares" held a prisoner by death, but birth pangs do bring deliverance to the mother also.Because

(καθοτ). This old conjunction (κατα, οτ) occurs in the N.T. only in Luke's writings.That he should be holden

(κρατεισθα αυτον). Infinitive present passive with accusative of general reference and subject of ην αδυνατον. The figure goes with "loosed" (λυσας) above.