20:1 After the disturbance had ended, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging 13 them and saying farewell, 14 he left to go to Macedonia. 15
1:3 We always 16 give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,
1:1 From Paul, 17 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, 18 and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face. 19
13:22 Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, 23 bear with my message of exhortation, for in fact I have written to you briefly.
1 sn After the reading from the law and the prophets. In the 1st century Jewish synagogue, it was customary after the reading of the Torah (law) and prophets for men to give exhortation from the scriptures.
2 tn Normally ἀρχισυνάγωγος (arcisunagwgo") refers to the “president of a synagogue” (so BDAG 139 s.v. and L&N 53.93). Since the term is plural here, however, and it would sound strange to the English reader to speak of “the presidents of the synagogue,” the alternative translation “leaders” is used. “Rulers” would also be acceptable, but does not convey quite the same idea.
3 tn Grk “sent to them”; the word “message” is an understood direct object. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.
4 tn Grk “Men brothers,” but this is both awkward and unnecessary in English.
5 tn Or “word.”
6 tn Or “encouragement.”
7 tn Or “give it.”
8 tn Here λόγου (logou) is singular. BDAG 599-600 s.v. λόγος 1.a.β has “in a long speech” for this phrase.
9 tn BDAG 633 s.v. μέρος 1.b.γ gives the meanings “the parts (of a geographical area), region, district,” but the use of “district” in this context probably implies too much specificity.
10 tn Grk “and encouraging them with many words.” The participle παρακαλέσας (parakalesa", “encouraging”) has been translated by the phrase “spoken…words of encouragement” because the formal equivalent is awkward in contemporary English.
11 tn Grk “[to] them”; the referent (the believers there) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 tn In popular usage the term translated “Greece” here could also refer to the Roman province officially known as Achaia (BDAG 318 s.v. ῾Ελλάς).
13 tn Or “exhorting.”
14 tn Or “and taking leave of them.”
15 sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.
16 tn The adverb πάντοτε (pantote) is understood to modify the indicative εὐχαριστοῦμεν (eucaristoumen) because it precedes περὶ ὑμῶν (peri Jumwn) which probably modifies the indicative and not the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi). But see 1:9 where the same expression occurs and περὶ ὑμῶν modifies the participle “praying” (προσευχόμενοι).
17 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
18 tn Or “I want you to know how hard I am working for you…”
19 tn Grk “as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.”
20 tn Grk “pain.” This word appears only three times in the NT outside of this verse (Rev 16:10, 11; 21:4) where the translation “pain” makes sense. For the present verse it has been translated “worked hard.” See BDAG 852 s.v. πόνος 1.
21 sn The day refers to that well-known time of Christ’s coming and judgment in the future; see a similar use of “day” in 1 Cor 3:13.
22 tn This paragraph (vv. 19-25) is actually a single, skillfully composed sentence in Greek, but it must be broken into shorter segments for English idiom. It begins with several subordinate phrases (since we have confidence and a great priest), has three parallel exhortations as its main verbs (let us draw near, hold, and take thought), and concludes with several subordinate phrases related to the final exhortation (not abandoning but encouraging).
23 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 2:11.