Acts 18:19-21

18:19 When they reached Ephesus, ¹  Paul ²  left Priscilla and Aquila ³  behind there, but he himself went ⁴  into the synagogue ⁵  and addressed ⁶  the Jews. 18:20 When they asked him to stay longer, he would not consent, ⁷  18:21 but said farewell to ⁸  them and added, ⁹  “I will come back ¹⁰  to you again if God wills.” ¹¹  Then ¹²  he set sail from Ephesus,

¹ sn Ephesus was an influential city in Asia Minor. It was the location of the famous temple of Artemis. In 334 b.c. control of the city had passed to Alexander the Great, who contributed a large sum to the building of a new and more elaborate temple of Artemis, which became one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and lasted until destroyed by the Goths in a.d. 263. This major port city would be reached from Corinth by ship. It was 250 mi (400 km) east of Corinth by sea.

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

³ tn Grk “left them”; the referents (Priscilla and Aquila) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Grk “going”; the participle εἰσελθών (eiselqwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

⁵ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

⁶ tn Although the word διελέξατο (dielexato; from διαλέγομαι, dialegomai) is frequently translated “reasoned,” “disputed,” or “argued,” this sense comes from its classical meaning where it was used of philosophical disputation, including the Socratic method of questions and answers. However, there does not seem to be contextual evidence for this kind of debate in Acts 18:19. As G. Schrenk (TDNT 2:94-95) points out, “What is at issue is the address which any qualified member of a synagogue might give.” Other examples of this may be found in the NT in Matt 4:23 and Mark 1:21.

⁷ sn He would not consent. Paul probably refused because he wanted to reach Jerusalem for the festival season before the seas became impassable during the winter.

⁸ tn Or “but took leave of.”

⁹ tn Grk “and saying”; the participle εἰπών (eipwn) has been translated as “added” rather than “said” to avoid redundancy with the previous “said farewell.” The participle εἰπών has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

¹⁰ tn Or “will return.”

¹¹ tn The participle θέλοντος (qelontos), a genitive absolute construction, has been translated as a conditional adverbial participle. Again Paul acts in dependence on God.

¹² tn A new sentence was begun here in the translation due to the length of the sentence in Greek and the requirements of contemporary English style, which generally uses shorter sentences.