Acts 15:41

15:41 He passed through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening ¹  the churches.

Acts 15:23

15:23 They sent this letter with them: ² 

From the apostles ³  and elders, your brothers, ⁴  to the Gentile brothers and sisters ⁵  in Antioch, ⁶  Syria, ⁷  and Cilicia, greetings!

Acts 20:3

20:3 where he stayed ⁸  for three months. Because the Jews had made ⁹  a plot ¹⁰  against him as he was intending ¹¹  to sail ¹²  for Syria, he decided ¹³  to return through Macedonia. ¹⁴ 

[15:41]  ¹ sn Strengthening. See Acts 14:22; 15:32; 18:23.

[15:23]  ² tn Grk “writing by their hand” (an idiom for sending a letter).

[15:23]  ³ tn Grk “The apostles.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[15:23]  ⁴ tn Grk “brothers,” but “your” is supplied to specify the relationship, since without it “brothers” could be understood as vocative in English.

[15:23]  ⁵ tn Grk “to the brothers who are from the Gentiles.”

[15:23]  ⁶ sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia).

[15:23]  ⁷ tn Grk “and Syria,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[20:3]  ³ tn BDAG 841 s.v. ποιέω 5.c, “w. an acc. of time spend, stay.”

[20:3]  ⁴ tn The participle βενομένης (benomenh") has been translated as a causal adverbial participle. L&N 30.71 has “ἐπιβουλῆς αὐτῷ ὑπὸ τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων ‘because the Jews had made a plot against him’ Ac 20:3.”

[20:3]  ⁵ sn This plot is one of several noted by Luke (Acts 9:20; 20:19; 23:30).

[20:3]  ⁶ tn BDAG 628 s.v. μέλλω 1.c.γ has “denoting an intended action: intend, propose, have in mind…Ac 17:31; 20:3, 7, 13ab; 23:15; 26:2; 27:30.”

[20:3]  ⁷ tn BDAG 62 s.v. ἀνάγω 4 gives “put out to sea” here (as a nautical technical term). However, since the English expression “put out to sea” could be understood to mean Paul was already aboard the ship (which is not clear from the context), the simpler expression “sail” is used at this point in the translation.

[20:3]  ⁸ tn BDAG 199 s.v. γίνομαι 7 has “ἐγένετο γνώμης he decided Ac 20:3.”

[20:3]  ⁹ sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.