Discovery BoxActs 17:7-9 
Context17:7 and 1 Jason has welcomed them as guests! They 2 are all acting against Caesar’s 3 decrees, saying there is another king named 4 Jesus!” 5 17:8 They caused confusion among 6 the crowd and the city officials 7 who heard these things. 17:9 After 8 the city officials 9 had received bail 10 from Jason and the others, they released them.
1 tn Grk “whom.” Because of the awkwardness in English of having two relative clauses follow one another (“who have stirred up trouble…whom Jason has welcomed”) the relative pronoun here (“whom”) has been replaced by the conjunction “and,” creating a clause that is grammatically coordinate but logically subordinate in the translation.
2 tn Grk “and they.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.
3 tn Or “the emperor’s” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).
4 tn The word “named” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied for clarity.
5 sn Acting…saying…Jesus. The charges are serious, involving sedition (Luke 23:2). If the political charges were true, Rome would have to react.
6 tn Grk “They troubled the crowd and the city officials”; but this could be understood to mean “they bothered” or “they annoyed.” In reality the Jewish instigators managed to instill doubt and confusion into both the mob and the officials by their false charges of treason. Verse 8 suggests the charges raised again Paul, Silas, Jason, and the others were false.
7 tn L&N 37.93 defines πολιτάρχης (politarch") as “a public official responsible for administrative matters within a town or city and a member of the ruling council of such a political unit – ‘city official.’”
8 tn Grk “And after.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
9 tn Grk “they”; the referent (the city officials) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10 tn That is, “a payment” or “a pledge of security” (BDAG 472 s.v. ἱκανός 1) for which “bail” is the most common contemporary English equivalent.
