to ponder/confer
Sumballo describes conferring in discussion, reflecting on matters, and, in other contexts, meeting or helping.
The attested uses chiefly show discussion or consideration: people confer together in Acts 17:18 and Acts 4:15, and a king considers a military encounter in Luke 14:31. Luke 2:19 places the present participle with Mary’s inward reflection; Acts 18:27 and Acts 20:14 show related contexts of helping and meeting, though the translation does not isolate the term’s contribution there.
Senses in use
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Confer or deliberate together · dominant
The imperfect active plural forms occur where groups are in discussion: in Acts 17:18 the APB renders that philosophers “conferred with him,” and in Acts 4:15 it says the council members “conferred with one another.” In Luke 14:31, the aorist active infinitive stands in the king’s consideration of whether he can meet an opposing king in war.
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Reflect on retained declarations · occasional
In Luke 2:19, the present active nominative feminine singular participle accompanies Mary’s keeping “all these declarations”; the APB renders the clause as “pondering them in her heart.”
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Meet or aid in an encounter · occasional
In Acts 20:14, the imperfect active singular form occurs in the clause where the group meets someone at Assos and takes him aboard. In Acts 18:27, the aorist middle singular form appears in the account of arrival and substantial help to believers; the APB’s whole-verse translation does not make the term’s precise contribution fully isolable.
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB presents the discussion contexts with “conferred,” the inward context with “pondering,” and the remaining contexts with “helped” and “met.” Because the APB translates whole verses rather than aligning individual words, these renderings do not by themselves assign a separate meaning to each form.