Acts 14:2-6

14:2 But the Jews who refused to believe ¹  stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds ²  against the brothers. 14:3 So they stayed there ³  for a considerable time, speaking out courageously for the Lord, who testified ⁴  to the message ⁵  of his grace, granting miraculous signs ⁶  and wonders to be performed through their hands. 14:4 But the population ⁷  of the city was divided; some ⁸  sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles. 14:5 When both the Gentiles and the Jews (together with their rulers) made ⁹  an attempt to mistreat ¹⁰  them and stone them, ¹¹  14:6 Paul and Barnabas ¹²  learned about it ¹³  and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra ¹⁴  and Derbe ¹⁵  and the surrounding region.

[14:2]  ¹ tn Or “who would not believe.”

[14:2]  ² tn Or “embittered their minds” (Grk “their souls”). BDAG 502 s.v. κακόω 2 has “make angry, embitter τὰς ψυχάς τινων κατά τινος poison the minds of some persons against another Ac 14:2.”

[14:3]  ³ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[14:3]  ⁴ sn The Lord testified to the message by granting the signs described in the following clause.

[14:3]  ⁵ tn Grk “word.”

[14:3]  ⁶ tn Here the context indicates the miraculous nature of the signs mentioned.

[14:4]  ⁷ tn BDAG 825 s.v. πλῆθος 2.b.γ has this translation for πλῆθος (plhqo").

[14:4]  ⁸ tn These clauses are a good example of the contrastive μὲν…δέ (men…de) construction: Some “on the one hand” sided with the Jews, but some “on the other hand” sided with the apostles.

[14:5]  ⁹ tn Grk “So there came about an attempt” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[14:5]  ¹⁰ tn On this verb see BDAG 1022 s.v. ὑβρίζω.

[14:5]  ¹¹ tn The direct object “them” is repeated after both verbs in the translation for stylistic reasons, although it occurs only after λιθοβολῆσαι (liqobolhsai) in the Greek text.

[14:6]  ¹² tn Grk “they”; the referents (Paul and Barnabas) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:6]  ¹³ tn Grk “learning about it, fled.” The participle συνιδόντες (sunidonte") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. It could also be taken temporally (“when they learned about it”) as long as opening clause of v. 5 is not translated as a temporal clause too, which results in a redundancy.

[14:6]  ¹⁴ sn Lystra was a city in Lycaonia about 18 mi (30 km) south of Iconium, a Roman colony that was not on the main roads of Lycaonia. Because of its relative isolation, its local character was able to be preserved.

[14:6]  ¹⁵ sn Derbe was a city in Lycaonia about 35 mi (60 km) southeast of Lystra.