Passage

Acts 17.1

Book: Acts · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

1. Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews:

and Paul, as his custom was, went in unto them, and for three sabbath days reasoned with them from the scriptures, 3. opening and alleging that it behooved the Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom, said he, I proclaim unto you, is the Christ. (Acts 17:1-3, ASV)

WEB

1. Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.

Paul, as was his custom, went in to them, and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3. explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” (Acts 17:1-3, WEB)

KJV

1. Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews:

And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, 3. Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. ^{whom: or, whom, said he, I preach} (Acts 17:1-3, KJV)

YLT

1. And having passed through Amphipolis, and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was the synagogue of the Jews,

and according to the custom of Paul, he went in unto them, and for three sabbaths he was reasoning with them from the Writings, 3. opening and alleging, 'That the Christ it behoved to suffer, and to rise again out of the dead, and that this is the Christ, Jesus whom I proclaim to you.' (Acts 17:1-3, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: the narrator of Acts, traditionally Luke
Audience: Theophilus (Acts 1:1) and the reader
Location: the road from Philippi through Amphipolis and Apollonia to Thessalonica, capital of the Roman province of Macedonia
Time period: c. AD 50, on Paul's second missionary journey, shortly before his eighteen months in Corinth (Acts 18:11)

Theological reading

"Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews." Paul and Silas (17:4) have just left Philippi after the beating, imprisonment and release of Acts 16. Timothy, who joined them at Lystra (16:1-3), reappears at Berea (17:14), and his name stands with theirs at the head of the letter they later wrote: "Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto the church of the Thessalonians" (1 Thessalonians 1:1).

Passing through. Amphipolis and Apollonia lie on the Roman road west of Philippi, the Via Egnatia, which ran across Macedonia to Thessalonica. Luke names the towns but records no preaching in them. The stop that matters is the next one.

Why Thessalonica. Luke gives the reason in the verse itself: it was a city "where was a synagogue of the Jews." The next verse explains why that mattered: "Paul, as his custom was, went in unto them" (17:2). Paul's argument was that the Scriptures speak of Jesus, so he began with the people who already read them. See Acts 17.2.

A city on the roads. Thessalonica was the capital of the province and a port on the main highway. A church planted there would not stay hidden. Paul later tells the believers, "from you hath sounded forth the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith to God-ward is gone forth" (1 Thessalonians 1:8). See Church at Thessalonica.

Out of suffering. Paul himself connects the arrival with what had just happened: "having suffered before and been shamefully treated, as ye know, at Philippi, we waxed bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God in much conflict" (1 Thessalonians 2:2).

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

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Quoted in

Concepts:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.