Section 17:1–9
Paul and Silas went to Thessalonica
In this section, Paul and Silas traveled through several towns and arrived at Thessalonica. Paul preached the gospel of Jesus to the Jews and discussed it with them. Some Jews and a large number of Gentiles who worshiped God believed.
But some Jews did not believe and encouraged some bad people to start a riot against Paul and Silas. They did not find Paul and Silas but dragged a believer named Jason before the city officials. They made him promise to make Paul and Silas leave or else pay a big fine for disturbing the peace. (In 17:10, the believers sent Paul and Silas away from Thessalonica to Berea.)
Other examples of headings for this section are:
Paul preached in Thessalonica, but some Jews caused people to riot against him
-or-
The Uproar in Thessalonica (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
In Thessalonica (New International Version)
Paragraph 17:1–4
17:1a
they: This pronoun refers to Paul and Silas. This is the start of a new chapter, so you may want to use their names instead of the pronoun they. For example:
Paul and Silas (Good News Translation)
passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia: The phrase passed through indicates that Paul and Silas did not stay long in either Amphipolis and Apollonia. Luke probably mentioned these two cities because Paul and Silas stopped for the night there. They probably did not stop and preach here. For example:
traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
travelled by way of Amphipolis and Apollonia (Revised English Bible)
Amphipolis and Apollonia: These names referred to cities in the province of Macedonia. The distance from Philippi to Amphipolis is about 65 kilometers (40 miles). The distance from Amphipolis to Apollonia is about 50 kilometers (31 miles). The distance from Apollonia to Thessalonica is about 55 kilometers (34 miles). Each of these distances would be an all day journey on foot, or perhaps two days.
17:1b
Thessalonica: Thessalonica was a large city for that time. It is estimated that it had somewhere between 20,000 to 100,000 people living there.
a Jewish synagogue: A synagogue was a building where Jews gathered to pray, read scripture, teach, and worship God. See how you translated the word synagogue in 15:21.
Luke described the synagogue here as Jewish, but the word synagogue usually refers to a building for Jews to gather. For example:
a synagogue (Good News Translation)
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