18:17a
the crowd:
The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the crowd is literally “they.” The pronoun “they” probably refers to people at the court: Greeks and a few Romans. It is unlikely that the pronoun refers to the Jews (18:14–16). The Jews would probably not beat one of their own people in front of the Roman judge. Refer in a general way to the Greeks and Romans. For example:
the whole crowd of people (Easy English Bible)
seized: The Greek word is literally “seized.” (The New International Version translation indicates that the people changed from polite behavior to wanting to fight.) For example:
grabbed (Good News Translation)
the synagogue leader: This phrase indicates that Sosthenes was the leader over the Jews. They were members of the synagogue. For example:
the leader of the synagogue (Good News Translation)
-or-
the Jewish leader (Contemporary English Version)
18:17b
beat him: The people probably beat Sosthenes with their fists. Some languages must say what they beat him with. For example:
beat him ⌊with their fists⌋
in front of the judgment seat: This phrase in Greek is literally “before the judgment seat.” The Jews had not yet left the area where Gallio judged people. The court police had forced the Jews away from being directly in front of him. This phrase indicates that he was still able to see them. For example:
in the court area
-or-
with Gallio watching
judgment seat: See how you translated this word in 18:12.
18:17c
none of this was of concern to Gallio: This clause indicates that Gallio knew that people were beating Sosthenes but did not care. He allowed them to continue beating Sosthenes. Other ways to translate this clause are:
But Gallio was not concerned about any of these things. (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
But none of this mattered to Gallio. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
But that did not bother Gallio a bit. (Good News Translation)
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