SIL Translator’s Notes on Acts 20:2

20:2a

that area: This phrase in Greek is literally “those parts/districts.” It refers to the regions in the province of Macedonia. Paul probably went to those regions where the churches in Macedonia were. He visited the believers there on his way to Greece. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

these parts (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
those regions (Good News Translation)

20:2b

speaking many words of encouragement: Like in 20:1, this phrase also refers to encouraging the believers. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

encouraged the people with many messages (Good News Translation)
-or-
He said many things to strengthen the followers (New Century Version)

20:2c

he arrived in Greece: The Greek grammar indicates that Paul arrived in Greece after going to those places in Macedonia. Indicate in your translation that Paul arrived in Greece after going to those places in Macedonia. For example:

and finally arrived in Greece (New International Version)

Greece: Here the name Greece refers to a region of Greek towns and land that the Romans conquered and ruled. The Romans called it the province of Achaia. Paul traveled south from Macedonia to reach Greece.

Today the word Greece refers to a country that includes the region of Macedonia. You may want to explain the meaning of this word here. An example footnote is:

Here the name “Greece” refers to a region of Greek towns and land that the Romans called the province of Achaia.

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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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