Text -- Acts 18:1-3 (NET)

Paul at Corinth

18:1 After this Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth. 18:2 There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to depart from Rome. Paul approached them, 18:3 and because he worked at the same trade, he stayed with them and worked with them (for they were tentmakers by trade).

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Act 18:1

¹ tn Grk “After these things.”

² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Or “Paul left.”

⁴ map For location see JP1 C2; JP2 C2; JP3 C2; JP4 C2.

⁵ sn Corinth was the capital city of the senatorial province of Achaia and the seat of the Roman proconsul. It was located 55 mi (88 km) west of Athens. Corinth was a major rival to Athens and was the largest city in Greece at the time.

map For location see JP1 C2; JP2 C2; JP3 C2; JP4 C2.

NET Notes: Act 18:2

¹ tn Grk “And he.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here. The word “there” is not in the Greek text but is implied.

² tn Grk “finding.” The participle εὑρών (Jeurwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

³ sn On Aquila and his wife Priscilla see also Acts 18:18, 26; Rom 16:3-4; 1 Cor 16:19; 2 Tim 4:19. In the NT “Priscilla” and “Prisca” are the same person. This author uses the full name Priscilla, while Paul uses the diminutive form Prisca.

⁴ sn Pontus was a region in the northeastern part of Asia Minor. It was a Roman province.

⁵ sn Claudius refers to the Roman emperor Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus, known as Claudius, who ruled from a.d. 41-54. The edict expelling the Jews from Rome was issued in a.d. 49 (Suetonius, Claudius 25.4).

⁶ tn Or “to leave.”

⁷ map For location see JP4 A1.

⁸ tn Or “went to.”

NET Notes: Act 18:3

¹ tn The prepositional phrase “with them” occurs only once in the Greek text, but since it occurs between the two finite verbs (ἔμενεν, emenen, and ἠργάζετο, hrgazeto) it relates (by implication) to both of them.

² tn On the term translated “tentmakers,” see BDAG 928-29 s.v. σκνηοποιός. Paul apparently manufactured tents. In contrast to the Cynic philosophers, Paul at times labored to support himself (see also v. 5).

³ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.