Acts 16:8-12

16:8 so they passed through ¹  Mysia ²  and went down to Troas. ³  16:9 A ⁴  vision appeared to Paul during the night: A Macedonian man was standing there ⁵  urging him, ⁶  “Come over ⁷  to Macedonia ⁸  and help us!” 16:10 After Paul ⁹  saw the vision, we attempted ¹⁰  immediately to go over to Macedonia, ¹¹  concluding that God had called ¹²  us to proclaim the good news to them.

Arrival at Philippi

16:11 We put out to sea ¹³  from Troas ¹⁴  and sailed a straight course ¹⁵  to Samothrace, ¹⁶  the next day to Neapolis, ¹⁷  16:12 and from there to Philippi, ¹⁸  which is a leading city of that district ¹⁹  of Macedonia, ²⁰  a Roman colony. ²¹  We stayed in this city for some days.

[16:8]  ¹ tn Although the normal meaning for παρέρχομαι (parercomai) is “pass by, go by,” it would be difficult to get to Troas from where Paul and his companions were without going through rather than around Mysia. BDAG 776 s.v. παρέρχομαι 6 list some nonbiblical examples of the meaning “go through, pass through,” and give that meaning for the usage here.

[16:8]  ² sn Mysia was a province in northwest Asia Minor.

[16:8]  ³ sn Troas was a port city (and surrounding region) on the northwest coast of Asia Minor, near ancient Troy.

[16:9]  ⁴ tn Grk “And a.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[16:9]  ⁵ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[16:9]  ⁶ tn The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant and has not been translated.

[16:9]  ⁷ tn Grk “Coming over.” The participle διαβάς (diabas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[16:9]  ⁸ sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.

[16:10]  ⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:10]  ⁸ tn Grk “sought.”

[16:10]  ⁹ sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.

[16:10]  ¹⁰ tn Or “summoned.”

[16:11]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ sn Troas was a port city (and surrounding region) on the northwest coast of Asia Minor. See v. 8.

[16:11]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ sn Samothrace is an island in the northern part of the Aegean Sea.

[16:11]  ¹⁴ sn Neapolis was a seaport on the southern coast of Macedonia. It was 10 mi (16 km) from Philippi.

[16:12]  ¹³ map For location see JP1 C1; JP2 C1; JP3 C1; JP4 C1.

[16:12]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.

[16:12]  ¹⁶ 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).