20:4a
Paul was accompanied by Sopater:
The Greek words are literally “and accompanying him, Sopater…” The Greek words indicate that the seven men named in this verse went with Paul to Syria.
This clause is passive. Some languages cannot use a passive clause. For example:
• Use an active clause. For example:
Sopater…accompanied Paul (God’s Word)
• Use an intransitive verb. For example:
Sopater…went with him; so did… (Good News Translation)
-or-
The men who went with him were Sopater… (New Century Version)
-or-
Several men were traveling with him. They were Sopater… (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
His companions on the journey were Sopater… (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
accompanied: Sopater joined Paul in whatever town in Greece they were staying (some scholars think it was Corinth). He went with him probably as far as Jerusalem but maybe only has far as Macedonia. Do not explain how far Sopater went.
son of Pyrrhus: Pyrrhus was the father of Sopater. In some languages it is more natural to indicate that Pyrrhus was the father. For example:
whose father is/was Pyrrhus
from Berea: The Greek word is literally “(a) Berean.” It probably indicates that Pyrrhus was from Berea. But it likely indicates that Sopater was from Berea as well. In English the “-n” ending means “a person of.” Use the form in our language that indicates Sopater was from Berea. For example:
a Berean
-or-
a person of Berea
Berea: See how you spelled this name in 17:10.
20:4b
Thessalonica: See how you spelled this name in 17:1.
20:4c
Derbe: See how you spelled this name in 14:6.
20:4d
the province of Asia: The Berean Standard Bible adds the phrase province of. At that time the name Asia referred to a region in what is now the western part of the country of Turkey. But in English the name now refers to the region of the world that includes the country of China. So the Berean Standard Bible and some other English versions add the phrase province of to indicate the correct meaning. See how you translated this phrase in 2:9 or 19:22.
province: Here this word refers to a large area of land that the Romans conquered or ruled, that is not in Italy. It may refer to land that used to be ruled by another country, an independent country or to a group of countries. The Roman rulers put another Roman as the ruler over that province. Consider how to translate this word here.
© 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.