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Paul at Corinth

18 After this[a] Paul[b] departed from[c] Athens and went to Corinth.[d] There he[e] found[f] a Jew named Aquila,[g] a native of Pontus,[h] who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius[i] had ordered all the Jews to depart from[j] Rome. Paul approached[k] them, and because he worked at the same trade, he stayed with them and worked with them[l] (for they were tentmakers[m] by trade).[n] He addressed[o] both Jews and Greeks in the synagogue[p] every Sabbath, attempting to persuade[q] them.

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Footnotes

  1. Acts 18:1 tn Grk “After these things.”
  2. Acts 18:1 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  3. Acts 18:1 tn Or “Paul left.”
  4. Acts 18:1 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.
  5. Acts 18:2 tn Grk “And he.” 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. The word “there” is not in the Greek text but is implied.
  6. Acts 18:2 tn Grk “finding.” The participle εὑρών (heurōn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
  7. Acts 18:2 sn On Aquila and his wife Priscilla see also Acts 18:18, 26; Rom 16:3-4; 1 Cor 16:19; 2 Tim 4:19. In the NT “Priscilla” and “Prisca” are the same person. Paul uses the name Prisca, while the author of Acts uses the diminutive form of the name Priscilla.
  8. Acts 18:2 sn Pontus was a region in the northeastern part of Asia Minor. It was a Roman province.
  9. Acts 18:2 sn Claudius refers to the Roman emperor Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus, known as Claudius, who ruled from a.d. 41-54. The edict expelling the Jews from Rome was issued in a.d. 49 (Suetonius, Claudius 25.4).
  10. Acts 18:2 tn Or “to leave.”
  11. Acts 18:2 tn Or “went to.”
  12. Acts 18:3 tn The prepositional phrase “with them” occurs only once in the Greek text, but since it occurs between the two finite verbs (ἔμενεν, emenen, and ἠργάζετο, ērgazeto) it relates (by implication) to both of them.
  13. Acts 18:3 tn On the term translated “tentmakers,” see BDAG 928-29 s.v. σκηνοποιός. Paul apparently manufactured tents. In contrast to the Cynic philosophers, Paul at times labored to support himself (see also v. 5).
  14. Acts 18:3 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
  15. Acts 18:4 tn Although the word διελέξατο (dielexato; from διαλέγομαι, dialegomai) is frequently translated “reasoned,” “disputed,” or “argued,” this sense comes from its classical meaning where it was used of philosophical disputation, including the Socratic method of questions and answers. However, there does not seem to be contextual evidence for this kind of debate in Acts 18:4. As G. Schrenk (TDNT 2:94-95) points out, “What is at issue is the address which any qualified member of a synagogue might give.” Other examples of this may be found in the NT in Matt 4:23 and Mark 1:21.
  16. Acts 18:4 sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.
  17. Acts 18:4 tn Grk “Addressing in the synagogue every Sabbath, he was attempting to persuade both Jews and Greeks.” Because in English the verb “address” is not used absolutely but normally has an object specified, the direct objects of the verb ἔπειθεν (epeithen) have been moved forward as the objects of the English verb “addressed,” and the pronoun “them” repeated in the translation as the object of ἔπειθεν. The verb ἔπειθεν has been translated as a conative imperfect.

In Corinth

18 After these things he departed (A)Athens and went to (B)Corinth. And he found a Jew named (C)Aquila, a native of (D)Pontus, and his wife (E)Priscilla, who recently came from (F)Italy because (G)Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. He came to them, and because he was of the same trade, he was staying with them and (H)they were working, for by trade they were tent-makers. And he was reasoning (I)in the synagogue every (J)Sabbath and trying to persuade both (K)Jews and Greeks.

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