Text -- Acts 17:19 (NET)

17:19 So they took Paul and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are proclaiming?

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Act 17:19

¹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Or “to the council of the Areopagus.” See also the term in v. 22.

sn The Areopagus has been traditionally understood as reference to a rocky hill near the Acropolis in Athens, although this place may well have been located in the marketplace at the foot of the hill (L&N 93.412; BDAG 129 s.v. ῎Αρειος πάγος). This term does not refer so much to the place, however, as to the advisory council of Athens known as the Areopagus, which dealt with ethical, cultural, and religious matters, including the supervision of education and controlling the many visiting lecturers. Thus it could be translated the council of the Areopagus. See also the term in v. 22.