Acts 17:19-21

17:19 So they took Paul and ¹  brought him to the Areopagus, ²  saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are proclaiming? 17:20 For you are bringing some surprising things ³  to our ears, so we want to know what they ⁴  mean.” 17:21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there used to spend their time ⁵  in nothing else than telling ⁶  or listening to something new.) ⁷ 

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.

³ tn BDAG 684 s.v. ξενίζω 2 translates the substantival participle ξενίζοντα (xenizonta) as “astonishing things Ac 17:20.”

⁴ tn Grk “these things”; but since the referent (“surprising things”) is so close, the repetition of “these things” sounds redundant in English, so the pronoun “they” was substituted in the translation.

⁵ tn The imperfect verb ηὐκαίρουν (hukairoun) has been translated as a customary or habitual imperfect.

⁶ tn BDAG 406-7 s.v. εὐκαιρέω has “used to spend their time in nothing else than telling Ac 17:21.”

⁷ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. The reference to newness may be pejorative.