Passage

Acts 17.5

Book: Acts · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

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. 4. 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.

And when they found them not, they dragged Jason and certain brethren before the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; 7. whom Jason hath received: and these all act contrary to the decrees of Cæsar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. (Acts 17:3-7, ASV)

WEB

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.” 4. 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.

When they didn’t find them, they dragged Jason and certain brothers before the rulers of the city, crying, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here also, 7. whom Jason has received. These all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus!” (Acts 17:3-7, WEB)

KJV

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} 4. 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.

And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; 7. Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. (Acts 17:3-7, KJV)

YLT

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.' 4. 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,

and not having found them, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the city rulers, calling aloud, 'These, having put the world in commotion, are also here present, 7. whom Jason hath received; and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying another to be king, Jesus.' (Acts 17:3-7, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: the narrator of Acts, traditionally Luke
Audience: Theophilus (Acts 1:1) and the reader
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

"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." The success of the previous verse produces opposition at once.

Which Jews. The KJV reads "the Jews which believed not" (G544), following the Received Text, where the ASV, following older manuscripts, has simply "the Jews." Either way the context makes the distinction: "some of them were persuaded" (17:4), and these were not.

Jealousy. The verb (Strong's G2206) is the one Luke used at Pisidian Antioch, where "when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy" (13:45). Luke does not state the cause here, but the immediate context is the "great multitude" of devout Greeks (17:4), Gentiles who had been attached to the synagogue and were now following Paul.

A hired crowd. "Vile fellows of the rabble" translates a word (G60) for men who loiter in the marketplace. The opponents do not answer the argument of 17:2-3; they recruit a crowd and set "the city on an uproar." Luke sets reasoned persuasion beside manufactured disorder and lets the reader compare.

Jason's house. Jason has not been introduced. The next verses explain that he had "received" Paul and Silas (17:7). The mob wanted to bring the missionaries out "to the people" (G1218, demos), the citizen body of a city that governed its own affairs. When they were not found, the crowd turned on their host (17:6).

Paul's own account. Writing to the church soon after, Paul says, "ye also suffered the same things of your own countrymen, even as they did of the Jews" (1 Thessalonians 2:14). The phrase "your own countrymen" fits Luke's picture of a crowd drawn from the city at large. See Acts 17.5-9 and Acts 17.6-7.

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.

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Quoted in

Concepts:

Church at Thessalonica, via Acts 17.1-9, Acts 17.5-9
Churches the Disciples Started, via Acts 17.1-9

Notes

Your annotations.

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.