SIL Translator’s Notes on Acts 17:6

17:6a

dragged: The word dragged refers figuratively to the mob forcing Jason to go to the officials. In some languages a literal translation would wrongly indicate actually dragging him. If that is true in your language, translate the correct meaning. For example:

forced/pulled

17:6b

brothers: This refers to believers. See how you translated this word in 15:1 or 16:40.

the city officials: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the city officials is literally “city-rulers.” It refers to the top leaders in a city. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

the leaders of the city (New Century Version)
-or-
the rulers of the city (King James Version)

shouting: The context implies that the mob arrived in front of the city officials and then shouted. Probably the leaders of the mob shouted to the city officials over the noise of the mob. For example:

and shouted (Good News Translation)

The speakers from the mob said exaggerated and misleading things. In some languages a literal translation would wrongly imply that all they said was true. If that is true in your language, you may want to indicate in your translation that the words of 17:6c–7c are misleading. For example:

shouted ⌊lies
-or-

deceitfully⌋ shouted

17:6c

These men who have turned the world upside down: This phrase refers to Paul and Silas. It does not refer to Jason and the other believers (17:7a). Translate in a way that clearly refers to Paul and Silas. For example:

Those men who have made trouble (God’s Word)
-or-
Paul and Silas have caused trouble all over the world (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-

The people who have been turning the whole world upside down (New Jerusalem Bible)

The phrase probably indicates that the Jews leading the crowd thought that Paul and Silas were bad people.

who have turned the world upside down: The speakers from the mob misled the officials. Paul and Silas were not trying to cause trouble, but some people in some cities opposed them and caused trouble. In some languages a literal translation would wrongly indicate that Paul and Silas actually caused trouble. If that is so in your language, see the note above on “shouting.”

the world upside down: The speakers from the mob exaggerated. The word world probably refers to the Roman empire. Paul and Silas had been to some of the cities in one part of the Roman empire. In some languages a literal translation would wrongly imply that this phrase is true. If that is so in your language, you may want to indicate that this phrase is deceptive. See the note above on “shouting.”

You may also want to explain this phrase in a footnote. An example footnote is:

The word “world” refers to the Roman empire here. Paul and Silas had been to some of the cities in one part of the Roman empire. But the people exaggerated by shouting that Paul and Silas had been everywhere.

have now come here: This phrase in Greek is literally “are present here.” It indicates that Paul and Silas were in Thessalonica. For example:

and now they are here disturbing our city, too (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
are here ⌊in our city

But since Paul and Silas were not present before the city rulers, your translation should not indicate or imply that they were present before the city rulers.

© 2001, 2021 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

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