Discovery BoxActs 20:1-2 
Context20:1 After the disturbance had ended, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging 1 them and saying farewell, 2 he left to go to Macedonia. 3 20:2 After he had gone through those regions 4 and spoken many words of encouragement 5 to the believers there, 6 he came to Greece, 7
Acts 20:23-24
Context20:23 except 8 that the Holy Spirit warns 9 me in town after town 10 that 11 imprisonment 12 and persecutions 13 are waiting for me. 20:24 But I do not consider my life 14 worth anything 15 to myself, so that 16 I may finish my task 17 and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news 18 of God’s grace.
1 tn Or “exhorting.”
2 tn Or “and taking leave of them.”
3 sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.
4 tn BDAG 633 s.v. μέρος 1.b.γ gives the meanings “the parts (of a geographical area), region, district,” but the use of “district” in this context probably implies too much specificity.
5 tn Grk “and encouraging them with many words.” The participle παρακαλέσας (parakalesa", “encouraging”) has been translated by the phrase “spoken…words of encouragement” because the formal equivalent is awkward in contemporary English.
6 tn Grk “[to] them”; the referent (the believers there) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn In popular usage the term translated “Greece” here could also refer to the Roman province officially known as Achaia (BDAG 318 s.v. ῾Ελλάς).
8 tn BDAG 826 s.v. πλήν 1.d has “πλὴν ὅτι except that…Ac 20:23.”
9 tn The verb διαμαρτύρομαι (diamarturomai) can mean “warn” (BDAG 233 s.v. διαμαρτύρομαι 2 has “solemnly urge, exhort, warn…w. dat. of pers. addressed”), and this meaning better fits the context here, although BDAG categorizes Acts 20:23 under the meaning “testify of, bear witness to” (s.v. 1).
10 tn The Greek text here reads κατὰ πόλιν (kata polin).
11 tn Grk “saying that,” but the participle λέγον (legon) is redundant in English and has not been translated.
12 tn Grk “bonds.”
13 tn Or “troubles,” “suffering.” See Acts 19:21; 21:4, 11.
14 tn Grk “soul.”
15 tn Or “I do not consider my life worth a single word.” According to BDAG 599 s.v. λόγος 1.a.α, “In the textually uncertain pass. Ac 20:24 the text as it stands in N., οὐδενὸς λόγου (v.l. λόγον) ποιοῦμαι τὴν ψυχὴν τιμίαν, may well mean: I do not consider my life worth a single word (cp. λόγου ἄξιον [ἄξιος 1a] and our ‘worth mention’).”
16 tn BDAG 1106 s.v. ὡς 9 describes this use as “a final particle, expressing intention/purpose, with a view to, in order to.”
17 tn Grk “course.” See L&N 42.26, “(a figurative extension of meaning of δρόμος ‘race’) a task or function involving continuity, serious, effort, and possibly obligation – ‘task, mission’…Ac 20:24.” On this Pauline theme see also Phil 1:19-26; Col 1:24; 2 Tim 4:6-7.
18 tn Or “to the gospel.”
