Acts 16:12

16:12 and from there to Philippi, ¹  which is a leading city of that district ²  of Macedonia, ³  a Roman colony. ⁴  We stayed in this city for some days.

Acts 20:6

20:6 We ⁵  sailed away from Philippi ⁶  after the days of Unleavened Bread, ⁷  and within five days ⁸  we came to the others ⁹  in Troas, ¹⁰  where we stayed for seven days.

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¹ map For location see JP1-C1; JP2-C1; JP3-C1; JP4-C1.

² 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.

³ sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.

⁴ 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).

⁵ sn This marks the beginning of another “we” section in Acts. These have been traditionally understood to mean that Luke was in the company of Paul for this part of the journey.

⁶ map For location see JP1-C1; JP2-C1; JP3-C1; JP4-C1.

⁷ sn The days of Unleavened Bread refer to the week following Passover. Originally an agricultural festival commemorating the beginning of harvest, it was celebrated for seven days beginning on the fifteenth day of the month Nisan (March-April). It was later combined with Passover (Exod 12:1-20; Ezek 45:21-24; Matt 26:17; Luke 22:1).

⁸ tn BDAG 160 s.v. ἄχρι 1.a.α has “ἄ. ἡμερῶν πέντε within five days Ac 20:6.”

⁹ tn Grk “to them”; the referent (the others mentioned in v. 4) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ sn Troas was a port city (and surrounding region) on the northwest coast of Asia Minor. From Philippi to Troas was about 125 mi (200 km).