Acts 18:15-17

18:15 but since it concerns points of disagreement ¹  about words and names and your own law, settle ²  it yourselves. I will not be ³  a judge of these things!” 18:16 Then he had them forced away ⁴  from the judgment seat. ⁵  18:17 So they all seized Sosthenes, the president of the synagogue, ⁶  and began to beat ⁷  him in front of the judgment seat. ⁸  Yet none of these things were of any concern ⁹  to Gallio.

[18:15]  ¹ tn Or “dispute.”

[18:15]  ² tn Grk “see to it” (an idiom).

[18:15]  ³ tn Or “I am not willing to be.” Gallio would not adjudicate their religious dispute.

[18:16]  ⁴ tn Grk “driven away,” but this could result in a misunderstanding in English (“driven” as in a cart or wagon?). “Forced away” conveys the idea; Gallio rejected their complaint. In contemporary English terminology the case was “thrown out of court.” The verb ἀπήλασεν (aphlasen) has been translated as a causative since Gallio probably did not perform this action in person, but ordered his aides or officers to remove the plaintiffs.

[18:16]  ⁵ sn See the note on the term judgment seat in 18:12.

[18:17]  ⁶ tn That is, “the official in charge of the synagogue”; ἀρχισυνάγωγος (arcisunagwgo") refers to the “leader/president of a synagogue” (so BDAG 139 s.v. and L&N 53.93).

[18:17]  ⁷ tn The imperfect verb ἔτυπτον (etupton) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.

[18:17]  ⁸ sn See the note on the term judgment seat in 18:12.

[18:17]  ⁹ tn L&N 25.223 has “‘none of these things were of any concern to Gallio’ Ac 18:17.”