Acts 17:10-15

Paul and Silas at Berea

17:10 The brothers sent Paul and Silas off to Berea ¹  at once, during the night. When they arrived, ²  they went to the Jewish synagogue. ³  17:11 These Jews ⁴  were more open-minded ⁵  than those in Thessalonica, ⁶  for they eagerly ⁷  received ⁸  the message, examining ⁹  the scriptures carefully every day ¹⁰  to see if these things were so. 17:12 Therefore many of them believed, along with quite a few ¹¹  prominent ¹²  Greek women and men. 17:13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica ¹³  heard that Paul had also proclaimed the word of God ¹⁴  in Berea, ¹⁵  they came there too, inciting ¹⁶  and disturbing ¹⁷  the crowds. 17:14 Then the brothers sent Paul away to the coast ¹⁸  at once, but Silas and Timothy remained in Berea. ¹⁹  17:15 Those who accompanied Paul escorted him as far as Athens, ²⁰  and after receiving an order for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they left. ²¹ 

[17:10]  ¹ sn Berea (alternate spelling in NRSV Beroea; Greek Beroia) was a very old city in Macedonia on the river Astraeus about 45 mi (75 km) west of Thessalonica.

[17:10]  ² tn Grk “who arriving there, went to.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (οἵτινες, Joitine") has been left untranslated and a new English sentence begun. The participle παραγενόμενοι (paragenomenoi) has been taken temporally.

[17:10]  ³ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[17:11]  ⁴ tn Grk “These”; the referent (the Jews in the synagogue at Berea) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:11]  ⁵ tn Or “more willing to learn.” L&N 27.48 and BDAG 404 s.v. εὐγενής 2 both use the term “open-minded” here. The point is that they were more receptive to Paul’s message.

[17:11]  ⁶ sn Thessalonica was a city in Macedonia (modern Salonica).

[17:11]  ⁷ tn Or “willingly,” “readily”; Grk “with all eagerness.”

[17:11]  ⁸ tn Grk “who received.” Here the relative pronoun (“who”) has been translated as a pronoun (“they”) preceded by a semicolon, which is less awkward in contemporary English than a relative clause at this point.

[17:11]  ⁹ tn This verb (BDAG 66 s.v. ἀνακρίνω 1) refers to careful examination.

[17:11]  ¹⁰ tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase in this verse.

[17:12]  ¹¹ tn Grk “not a few”; this use of negation could be misleading to the modern English reader, however, and so has been translated as “quite a few” (which is the actual meaning of the expression).

[17:12]  ¹² tn Or “respected.”

[17:13]  ¹³ sn Thessalonica was a city in Macedonia (modern Salonica).

[17:13]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “that the word of God had also been proclaimed by Paul.” This passive construction has been converted to an active one in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[17:13]  ¹⁵ sn Berea (alternate spelling in NRSV Beroea; Greek Beroia) was a very old city in Macedonia on the river Astraeus about 45 mi (75 km) from Thessalonica.

[17:13]  ¹⁶ tn BDAG 911 s.v. σαλεύω 2 has “incite” for σαλεύοντες (saleuonte") in Acts 17:13.

[17:13]  ¹⁷ tn Or “stirring up” (BDAG 990-91 s.v. ταράσσω 2). The point is the agitation of the crowds.

[17:14]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “to the sea.” Here ἕως ἐπὶ τὴν θάλασσαν ({ew" epi thn qalassan) must mean “to the edge of the sea,” that is, “to the coast.” Since there is no mention of Paul taking a ship to Athens, he presumably traveled overland. The journey would have been about 340 mi (550 km).

[17:14]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “remained there”; the referent (Berea) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:15]  ²⁰ map For location see JP1 C2; JP2 C2; JP3 C2; JP4 C2.

[17:15]  ²¹ sn They left. See 1 Thess 3:1-2, which shows they went from here to Thessalonica.