Passage

Acts 17.2-3

Book: Acts · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

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

2. 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.

And some of them were persuaded, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. 5. But the Jews, being moved with jealousy, took unto them certain vile fellows of the rabble, and gathering a crowd, set the city on an uproar; and assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them forth to the people. (Acts 17:1-5, ASV)

WEB

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

2. 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.”

Some of them were persuaded, and joined Paul and Silas, of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and not a few of the chief women. 5. But the unpersuaded Jews took along some wicked men from the marketplace, and gathering a crowd, set the city in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people. (Acts 17:1-5, WEB)

KJV

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

2. 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}

And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. 5. But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. (Acts 17:1-5, KJV)

YLT

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

2. 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.'

And certain of them did believe, and attached themselves to Paul and to Silas, also of the worshipping Greeks a great multitude, of the principal women also not a few. 5. And the unbelieving Jews, having been moved with envy, and having taken to them of the loungers certain evil men, and having made a crowd, were setting the city in an uproar; having assailed also the house of Jason, they were seeking them to bring [them] to the populace, (Acts 17:1-5, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: the narrator of Acts, traditionally Luke; verse 3 shifts into Paul's own words, "whom, said he, I proclaim unto you"
Audience: Theophilus (Acts 1:1) and the reader; within the scene, the synagogue at Thessalonica
Location: Thessalonica, capital of the Roman province of Macedonia, reached by way of Amphipolis and Apollonia (17:1)
Time period: c. AD 50, on Paul's second missionary journey, shortly before his eighteen months in Corinth (Acts 18:11)

Theological reading

"And Paul, as his custom was, went in unto them, and for three sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 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." These two verses are Luke's summary of Paul's synagogue argument.

Two propositions. The first is about the Messiah: Scripture shows that he had to suffer and rise. The second is about Jesus: he is that Messiah. The order matters. Paul does not start with Jesus and look for texts to fit; he starts with what the Scriptures say the Christ must do, then shows that Jesus did it.

Opening and setting beside. "Opening" (Strong's G1272) is the verb Luke uses in the Emmaus account: "while he opened to us the scriptures" (Luke 24:32) and "Then opened he their mind, that they might understand the scriptures" (Luke 24:45). "Alleging" (G3908) means to set before or lay alongside, as evidence is laid out. Paul explains the texts and then puts the facts about Jesus next to them.

"It behooved." The Greek dei (G1163) expresses necessity: it had to be so. The risen Jesus used it of himself: "Behooved it not the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into his glory?" (Luke 24:26). The suffering of the Messiah was the main obstacle for Jewish hearers, so Paul addresses it first: a crucified Messiah is not a contradiction of Scripture but its fulfilment. Paul names the same difficulty in his own letters: "we preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stumblingblock" (1 Corinthians 1:23).

The hearers' response. Some were "persuaded" (17:4). Persuasion is the right word for the result of an argument from shared evidence. See Paul the Apostle.

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.

G3498 - nekros, nekros, Strong's G3498
G5547 - christos, christos, Strong's G5547
G4314 - pros, pros, Strong's G4314
G2424 - Iesous, Iesous, Strong's G2424

Quoted in

Concepts:

Lexicon:

G3563 - nous
G5547 - christos, via Acts 17.3

Passages:

Luke 24.44

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.