Acts 17:19

17:19 So they took Paul and ¹  brought him to the Areopagus, ²  saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are proclaiming?

Acts 17:22

17:22 So Paul stood ³  before the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious ⁴  in all respects. ⁵ 

[17:19]  ¹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:19]  ² tn Or “to the council of the Areopagus.” See also the term in v. 22.

[17:22]  ³ tn Grk “standing…said.” The participle ζηλώσαντες (zhlwsante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[17:22]  ⁴ tn The term δεισιδαιμονεστέρους (deisidaimonesterou") is difficult. On the one hand it can have the positive sense of “devout,” but on the other hand it can have the negative sense of “superstitious” (BDAG 216 s.v. δεισιδαίμων). As part of a laudatory introduction (the technical rhetorical term for this introduction was capatatio), the term is probably positive here. It may well be a “backhanded” compliment, playing on the ambiguity.

[17:22]  ⁵ tn BDAG 513 s.v. κατά B.6 translates the phrase κατὰ πάντα (kata panta) as “in all respects.”