Acts 16:37
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Context16:37 But Paul said to the police officers, 1 “They had us beaten in public 2 without a proper trial 3 – even though we are Roman citizens 4 – and they threw us 5 in prison. And now they want to send us away 6 secretly? Absolutely not! They 7 themselves must come and escort us out!” 8
Acts 17:18
Context17:18 Also some of the Epicurean 9 and Stoic 10 philosophers were conversing 11 with him, and some were asking, 12 “What does this foolish babbler 13 want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.” 14 (They said this because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) 15
1 tn Grk “to them”; the referent (the police officers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Grk “Having us beaten in public.” The participle δείραντες (deirante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
3 tn Or “in public, uncondemned.” BDAG 35 s.v. ἀκατάκριτος has “uncondemned, without due process” for this usage.
4 tn The participle ὑπάρχοντας (Juparconta") has been translated as a concessive adverbial participle.
5 tn The word “us” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.
6 tn L&N 28.71 has “send us away secretly” for this verse.
7 tn Grk “But they.”
8 sn They themselves must come and escort us out! Paul was asking for the injustice he and Silas suffered to be symbolically righted. It was a way of publicly taking their actions off the record and showing the apostles’ innocence, a major public statement. Note the apology given in v. 39.
9 sn An Epicurean was a follower of the philosophy of Epicurus, who founded a school in Athens about 300
10 sn A Stoic was a follower of the philosophy founded by Zeno (342-270
11 tn BDAG 956 s.v. συμβάλλω 1 has “converse, confer” here.
12 tn Grk “saying.”
13 tn Or “ignorant show-off.” The traditional English translation of σπερμολόγος (spermologo") is given in L&N 33.381 as “foolish babbler.” However, an alternate view is presented in L&N 27.19, “(a figurative extension of meaning of a term based on the practice of birds in picking up seeds) one who acquires bits and pieces of relatively extraneous information and proceeds to pass them off with pretense and show – ‘ignorant show-off, charlatan.’” A similar view is given in BDAG 937 s.v. σπερμολόγος: “in pejorative imagery of persons whose communication lacks sophistication and seems to pick up scraps of information here and there scrapmonger, scavenger…Engl. synonyms include ‘gossip’, ‘babbler’, chatterer’; but these terms miss the imagery of unsystematic gathering.”
14 tn The meaning of this phrase is not clear. Literally it reads “strange deities” (see BDAG 210 s.v. δαιμόνιον 1). The note of not being customary is important. In the ancient world what was new was suspicious. The plural δαιμονίων (daimoniwn, “deities”) shows the audience grappling with Paul’s teaching that God was working through Jesus.
15 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.