Acts 17:12-15

17:12 Therefore many of them believed, along with quite a few ¹  prominent ²  Greek women and men. 17:13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica ³  heard that Paul had also proclaimed the word of God ⁴  in Berea, ⁵  they came there too, inciting ⁶  and disturbing ⁷  the crowds. 17:14 Then the brothers sent Paul away to the coast ⁸  at once, but Silas and Timothy remained in Berea. ⁹  17:15 Those who accompanied Paul escorted him as far as Athens, ¹⁰  and after receiving an order for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they left. ¹¹ 

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¹ 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).

² tn Or “respected.”

³ sn Thessalonica was a city in Macedonia (modern Salonica).

⁴ 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.

⁵ 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.

⁶ tn BDAG 911 s.v. σαλεύω 2 has “incite” for σαλεύοντες (saleuonte") in Acts 17:13.

sn Inciting. Ironically, it was the Jews who were disturbing the peace, not the Christians.

⁷ tn Or “stirring up” (BDAG 990-91 s.v. ταράσσω 2). The point is the agitation of the crowds.

⁸ 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).

⁹ tn Grk “remained there”; the referent (Berea) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ map For location see JP1-C2; JP2-C2; JP3-C2; JP4-C2.

¹¹ sn They left. See 1 Thess 3:1-2, which shows they went from here to Thessalonica.