Acts 17:1-2

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Acts 17:1 tn BDAG 250 s.v. διοδεύω 1 has “go, travel through” for this verse.
2. Acts 17:1 sn Amphipolis. The capital city of the southeastern district of Macedonia (BDAG 55 s.v. ᾿Αμφίπολις). It was a military post. From Philippi this was about 33 mi (53 km).
3. Acts 17:1 sn Apollonia was a city in Macedonia about 27 mi (43 km) west southwest of Amphipolis.
4. Acts 17:1 sn Thessalonica (modern Salonica) was a city in Macedonia about 33 mi (53 km) west of Apollonia. It was the capital of Macedonia. The road they traveled over was called the Via Egnatia. It is likely they rode horses, given their condition in Philippi. The implication of v. 1 is that the two previously mentioned cities lacked a synagogue.
5. Acts 17:1 sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.
6. Acts 17:2 tn Grk “he went in to them”; the referent (the Jews in the synagogue) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7. Acts 17:2 tn Although the word διελέξατο (dielexato; from διαλέγομαι, dialegomai) is frequently translated “reasoned,” “disputed,” or “argued,” this sense comes from its classical meaning where it was used of philosophical disputation, including the Socratic method of questions and answers. However, there does not seem to be contextual evidence for this kind of debate in Acts 17:2. As G. Schrenk (TDNT 2:94-95) points out, “What is at issue is the address which any qualified member of a synagogue might give.” Other examples of this may be found in the NT in Matt 4:23 and Mark 1:21.