Passage

Acts 18.2

Book: Acts · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

After these things he departed from Athens, and came to Corinth.

2. And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome: and he came unto them;

and because he was of the same trade, he abode with them, and they wrought; for by their trade they were tentmakers. 4. And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded Jews and Greeks. (Acts 18:1-4, ASV)

WEB

After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth.

2. He found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race, who had recently come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. He came to them,

and because he practiced the same trade, he lived with them and worked, for by trade they were tent makers. 4. He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded Jews and Greeks. (Acts 18:1-4, WEB)

KJV

After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth;

2. And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them.

And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers. 4. And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. (Acts 18:1-4, KJV)

YLT

And after these things, Paul having departed out of Athens, came to Corinth,

2. and having found a certain Jew, by name Aquilas, of Pontus by birth, lately come from Italy, and Priscilla his wife, because of Claudius having directed all the Jews to depart out of Rome, he came to them,

and because of being of the same craft, he did remain with them, and was working, for they were tent-makers as to craft; 4. and he was reasoning in the synagogue every sabbath, persuading both Jews and Greeks. (Acts 18:1-4, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: the narrator of Acts, traditionally Luke
Audience: Theophilus (Acts 1:1) and the reader
Location: Corinth, capital of the Roman province of Achaia, refounded as a Roman colony by Julius Caesar in 44 BC
Time period: c. AD 50-52, on Paul's second missionary journey. Gallio's term as proconsul of Achaia (18:12), dated by an inscription found at Delphi, places the end of the stay about AD 51-52.

Theological reading

"And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome: and he came unto them." Paul has come to Corinth from Athens, alone (18:1; compare 17:15).

Claudius and the Jews of Rome. Luke ties the arrival of Aquila and Priscilla to an imperial order. The Roman biographer Suetonius reports that Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome because they were constantly rioting "at the instigation of Chrestus" (Life of Claudius 25.4). Many historians take "Chrestus" as a garbled form of Christus, which would mean the disturbance concerned preaching about Christ in Rome's synagogues, though that reading is disputed. A fifth-century historian, Orosius, dates the expulsion to Claudius's ninth year, AD 49, and that date fits Luke's "lately come from Italy."

A couple from Pontus. Aquila was from Pontus, on the Black Sea coast of Asia Minor, and had lived in Rome. Luke does not say how the couple came to faith. They appear later as hosts of house churches at Ephesus and at Rome: "Aquila and Prisca salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house" (1 Corinthians 16:19); "Salute Prisca and Aquila my fellow-workers in Christ Jesus... and salute the church that is in their house" (Romans 16:3-5).

Priscilla. Her name appears here as "Priscilla," and in Paul's letters as "Prisca," the shorter form. She is named before her husband in several places (Acts 18:18; Romans 16:3; 2 Timothy 4:19), and she takes part with Aquila in instructing Apollos (Acts 18:26).

"He came unto them." The verse ends with Paul seeking them out. The next verse gives the reason: "because he was of the same trade, he abode with them" (18:3). See Acts 18.3 and Church at Corinth.

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.

G3686 - onoma, onoma, Strong's G3686
G3956 - pas, pas, Strong's G3956

Quoted in

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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.