Acts 16:10-13

16:10 After Paul ¹  saw the vision, we attempted ²  immediately to go over to Macedonia, ³  concluding that God had called ⁴  us to proclaim the good news to them.

Arrival at Philippi

16:11 We put out to sea ⁵  from Troas ⁶  and sailed a straight course ⁷  to Samothrace, ⁸  the next day to Neapolis, ⁹  16:12 and from there to Philippi, ¹⁰  which is a leading city of that district ¹¹  of Macedonia, ¹²  a Roman colony. ¹³  We stayed in this city for some days. 16:13 On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate to the side of the river, where we thought there would be a place of prayer, and we sat down ¹⁴  and began to speak ¹⁵  to the women ¹⁶  who had assembled there. ¹⁷ 

Acts 16:17

16:17 She followed behind Paul and us and kept crying out, ¹⁸  “These men are servants ¹⁹  of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way ²⁰  of salvation.” ²¹ 

[16:10]  ¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:10]  ² tn Grk “sought.”

[16:10]  ³ sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.

[16:10]  ⁴ tn Or “summoned.”

[16:11]  ⁵ tn BDAG 62 s.v. ἀνάγω 4, “as a nautical t.t. (ἀ. τὴν ναῦν put a ship to sea), mid. or pass. ἀνάγεσθαι to begin to go by boat, put out to sea.”

[16:11]  ⁶ sn Troas was a port city (and surrounding region) on the northwest coast of Asia Minor. See v. 8.

[16:11]  ⁷ tn BDAG 406 s.v. εὐθυδρομέω has “of a ship run a straight course” here; L&N 54.3 has “to sail a straight course, sail straight to.”

[16:11]  ⁸ sn Samothrace is an island in the northern part of the Aegean Sea.

[16:11]  ⁹ sn Neapolis was a seaport on the southern coast of Macedonia. It was 10 mi (16 km) from Philippi.

[16:12]  ¹⁰ map For location see JP1 C1; JP2 C1; JP3 C1; JP4 C1.

[16:12]  ¹¹ tc ‡ Or perhaps, “a city in the first district” (there are a number of textual variants). L&N 1.85 follow the text of UBS⁴ and NA²⁷ here: “In Ac 16:12…the Greek New Testament published by the United Bible Societies has adopted a conjectural emendation, since the more traditional text, πρώτη τῆς μερίδος, literally ‘first of the district,’ is not only misleading in meaning but does not reflect the historical fact that Philippi was a city in one of the four districts of Macedonia but was not a capital city.” The original text is probably πρώτη τῆς μερίδος (prwth th" merido", “first of that district”) as found in Ì⁷⁴ א A C Ψ 33^vid 36 81 323 945 1175 1891 pc. This has traditionally been translated to give the impression that Philippi was the capital city of the district, but it does not necessarily have to be translated this way. The translation of the article before μερίδος as “that” acknowledges that there were other districts in the province of Macedonia.

[16:12]  ¹² sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.

[16:12]  ¹³ sn A Roman colony was a city whose residents were regarded as Roman citizens, since such cities were originally colonized by citizens of Rome. From Troas to Philippi was 130 mi (208 km).

[16:13]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “and sitting down we began to speak.” The participle καθίσαντες (kaqisante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[16:13]  ¹⁵ tn The imperfect verb ἐλαλοῦμεν (elaloumen) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.

[16:13]  ¹⁶ sn To the women. Apparently there were not enough Jews present in Philippi to have a synagogue (ten men would have been required to have one).

[16:13]  ¹⁷ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[16:17]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “crying out, saying”; the participle λέγουσα (legousa) is redundant in English and has not been translated. The imperfect verb ἔκραζεν (ekrazen) has been translated as a progressive imperfect.

[16:17]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “slaves.” See the note on the word “servants” in 2:18. The translation “servants” was used here because in this context there appears to be more emphasis on the activity of Paul and his companions (“proclaiming to you the way of salvation”) than on their status as “slaves of the Most High God.”

[16:17]  ²⁰ tn Or “a way.” The grammar of this phrase is a bit ambiguous. The phrase in Greek is ὁδὸν σωτηρίας (Jodon swthria"). Neither the head noun nor the genitive noun has the article; this is in keeping with Apollonius’ Canon (see ExSyn 239-40). Since both nouns are anarthrous, this construction also fits Apollonius’ Corollary (see ExSyn 250-54); since the genitive noun is abstract it is most naturally qualitative, so the head noun could either be definite or indefinite without being unusual as far as the grammar is concerned. Luke’s usage of ὁδός elsewhere is indecisive as far as this passage is concerned. However, when one looks at the historical background it is clear that (1) the woman is shut up (via exorcism) not because her testimony is false but because of its source (analogous to Jesus’ treatment of demons perhaps), and (b) “the way” is a par excellence description of the new faith throughout Acts. It thus seems that at least in Luke’s presentation “the way of salvation” is the preferred translation.

[16:17]  ²¹ sn Proclaiming to you the way of salvation. The remarks were an ironic recognition of Paul’s authority, but he did not desire such a witness, possibly for fear of confusion. Her expression the Most High God might have been understood as Zeus by the audience.