16:11 We put out to sea 5 from Troas 6 and sailed a straight course 7 to Samothrace, 8 the next day to Neapolis, 9 16:12 and from there to Philippi, 10 which is a leading city of that district 11 of Macedonia, 12 a Roman colony. 13 We stayed in this city for some days. 16:13 On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate to the side of the river, where we thought there would be a place of prayer, and we sat down 14 and began to speak 15 to the women 16 who had assembled there. 17
1 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Grk “sought.”
3 sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.
4 tn Or “summoned.”
5 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.”
6 sn Troas was a port city (and surrounding region) on the northwest coast of Asia Minor. See v. 8.
7 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.”
8 sn Samothrace is an island in the northern part of the Aegean Sea.
9 sn Neapolis was a seaport on the southern coast of Macedonia. It was 10 mi (16 km) from Philippi.
10 map For location see JP1-C1; JP2-C1; JP3-C1; JP4-C1.
11 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 33vid 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.
12 sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.
13 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).
14 tn Grk “and sitting down we began to speak.” The participle καθίσαντες (kaqisante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
15 tn The imperfect verb ἐλαλοῦμεν (elaloumen) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.
16 sn To the women. Apparently there were not enough Jews present in Philippi to have a synagogue (ten men would have been required to have one).
17 tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.