⁴ tn Heb “a son-in-law and your sons and your daughters and anyone who (is) to you in the city.”

² tn The Hebrew text simply has בָּנוּ (banu), but since v. 8 says they left off building the city, an ingressive idea (“had started building”) should be understood here.

⁵ sn The expression fell from heaven adds a note of apologetic about the heavenly origin of the goddess. The city’s identity and well-being was wrapped up with this connection, in their view. Many interpreters view her image that fell from heaven as a stone meteorite regarded as a sacred object.

⁵ sn Corinth was the capital city of the senatorial province of Achaia and the seat of the Roman proconsul. It was located 55 mi (88 km) west of Athens. Corinth was a major rival to Athens and was the largest city in Greece at the time.

² tn L&N 37.93 defines πολιτάρχης (politarchēs) 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’” (see also BDAG 845 s.v.).

⁴ sn Thessalonica (modern Salonica) was a city in Macedonia about 33 mi (53 km) west of Apollonia. It was the capital of Macedonia. The road they traveled over was called the Via Egnatia. It is likely they rode horses, given their condition in Philippi. The implication of v. 1 is that the two previously mentioned cities lacked a synagogue.

³ sn Pisidian Antioch was a city in Pisidia about 100 mi (160 km) north of Perga. It was both a Roman colony and the seat of military and civil authority in S. Galatia. One had to trek over the Taurus Mountains to get there, since the city was 3,600 ft (1,100 m) above sea level.

⁵ sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). This was probably the third largest city in the Greco-Roman world (Alexandria in Egypt was the second largest, and Rome the largest) and was the seat of government in Syria. Five miles away was a major temple to Artemis, Apollo, and Astarte, major pagan deities.

³ tn The word πύλη (pulē) may refer to a house door or gate, or to the large gates used in a palace, temple, or city wall. Here the context clearly indicates a reference to the latter, so the translation “city gates” is used.

⁴ tn Or “Judean city”; Grk “from Arimathea, a city of the Jews.” Here the expression “of the Jews” (᾿Ιουδαίων, Ioudaiōn) is used in an adjectival sense to specify a location (cf. BDAG 478 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.c) and so has been translated “Judean.”

¹ tn The Greek word here is πόλις (polis) which can be translated “city” or “town.” “Cities” was chosen here to emphasize the size of the places mentioned by Jesus in the following verses, since these localities tended to be relatively larger and more important by the standards of the time.

⁴ tn The Greek word πόλις (polis), can mean either “town” or “city” (see previous note in this verse). “Town” was employed here to emphasize the large number of places to visit (not just the largest cities) and thus the extensive nature of the disciples’ ministry.

³ tc The MT reads, “Listen, tribe (or staff) and who appointed it.” Verse 10 then begins with עוֹד (ʿod, “still” or “again”). The LXX reads, “who will set the city in order?” The translation assumes an emendation of וּמִי יְעָדָהּ. עוֹד (umi y^eʿadah. ʿod…, “and who appointed it. Still…”) to וּמוֹעֵד הָעִיר(umoʿed haʿir, “and the assembly of the city”).

² tn Heb “The one.” The word “town” has been used in the translation in keeping with the relative sizes of the armed contingents sent out by each. It is also possible that this line is speaking of the same city of the previous line. In other words, the contingent sent by that one city would have suffered a ninety percent casualty loss.

³ tn Heb “they fall upon.” This line has been interpreted in two different ways: (1) although they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded (KJV), or (2) when they “burst through” the city’s defenses, they will not break ranks (RSV, NASB, NIV, NIrV).

² tn Heb “they will go.” The pronoun and verb are feminine plural, indicating that the cities just mentioned are the antecedent of the pronoun and the subject of the verb. The translation makes this clear by stating the subject as “the cities.”

³ sn The reference to “all the ships of the sea…within you” suggests that the metaphor is changing; previously Tyre had been described as a magnificent ship, but now the description shifts back to an actual city. The “ships of the sea” were within Tyre’s harbor. Verse 11 refers to “walls” and “towers” of the city.

¹ sn The prince in Jerusalem refers to King Zedekiah. The Hebrew termנָשִׂיא (nasi’, “leader, chief prince”) refers to one lifted up and here means the leader of Jerusalem. The idea in the message is: “As goes the king, so goes the city.” The fortunes of the city are bound up in and symbolized by the king.

² tc The Vulgate reads the name as “Riblah,” a city north of Damascus. The MT reads Diblah, a city otherwise unknown. The letters resh (ר) and dalet (ד) may have been confused in the Hebrew text. The town of Riblah was in the land of Hamath (2 Kgs 23:33), which represented the northern border of Israel (Ezek 47:14).

⁵ sn The expression have seen her nakedness is a common metaphor to describe the plunder and looting of a city by a conquering army, probably drawn on the ignominious and heinous custom of raping the women of a conquered city as well.