Acts 18

After this, Paul left Athens and went to the city of Corinth.

1After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth;

NoteCorinth was a Roman colony and the administrative center of the province of Achaia, about fifty miles west of Athens. It sat on the narrow neck of land between two seas and controlled the traffic of both, which made it rich, crowded and constantly full of strangers. Its name had become a byword in Greek for loose living.

2There he found a Jew named Aquila, who came from Pontus. Aquila had recently arrived from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because the emperor Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them.

2And 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.

NotePontus was a region along the southern shore of the Black Sea, in what is now northern Turkey. Claudius was Roman emperor from AD 41 to 54; the Roman writer Suetonius records that he expelled the Jews from Rome over disturbances stirred up by someone he calls "Chrestus," a name often taken to be a garbled reference to Christ. The expulsion is usually dated around AD 49.

3They made tents for a living, and Paul did the same kind of work. So he stayed with them and worked with them.

3And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers.

Note"Wrought" simply means worked. The Greek word behind "tentmakers" covers working in leather or in the coarse woven cloth of goat hair used for tents, awnings and sails. Jewish teachers were commonly expected to support themselves by a trade rather than charge for their teaching.

4Every Sabbath day he talked things through in the synagogue, trying to convince both Jews and Greeks.

4And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.

Note"Reasoned" translates a Greek word meaning to discuss and argue back and forth, not to deliver a speech. The "Greeks" here are non Jews who attended the synagogue because they were drawn to the God of Israel, without becoming full converts.

5When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul gave all his time to preaching. He told the Jews plainly that Jesus was the Christ, the promised king God had said he would send.

5And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.

Note"Timotheus" is the Greek form of Timothy. "Pressed in the spirit" reflects a reading found in some manuscripts; others read that Paul was gripped or wholly taken up "by the word," that is, by the preaching itself. "Christ" is not a surname but the Greek for Messiah, "the anointed one," the king God had promised to send to Israel; to say "Jesus is the Christ" was to make a claim, not to state a name.

6But they argued against him and insulted him. So Paul shook out his clothes and said to them, "What happens to you is your own fault, not mine. I am not to blame. From now on I will go to people who are not Jews."

6And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.

NoteShaking out one's clothes was a recognized gesture of breaking off all responsibility for what followed, like shaking dust from the feet. "Your blood be upon your own heads" is an Old Testament legal idiom: if a watchman gives the warning and is ignored, the deaths are not charged to him. "Blasphemed" here means spoke abusively, of Paul as much as of God. "Gentiles" means everyone who is not Jewish.

7He left the synagogue and went next door, into the house of a man named Justus, who worshiped God.

7And he departed thence, and entered into a certain man’s house, named Justus, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue.

Note"One that worshipped God" is close to a technical term. Such people, often called God fearers, were non Jews who attended synagogue, accepted the God of Israel and kept some of the law, but had not become Jews. They were the readiest hearers Paul had. "Joined hard to" means shared a wall with; Paul moved next door, not out of reach.

8Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, and so did everyone in his house. Many other people in Corinth who heard the message also believed and were baptized.

8And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.

Note"Chief ruler of the synagogue" renders one Greek word for the official who managed the building, the services and the reading of Scripture. It was a position of standing in the community, which is why his believing is reported by name. "All his house" means the entire household: family, servants, slaves and dependents, who in that world normally followed the head of the house in matters of religion.

9One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: "Do not be afraid. Keep speaking, and do not stay silent.

9Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:

Note"Hold not thy peace" is older English for do not fall silent.

10I am with you, and no one will attack you or harm you, because many people in this city belong to me."

10For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.

Note"Much people" is 1611 English for many people; "much" could be used of number as well as quantity. The Greek word for "people" is the one regularly used in the Greek Old Testament for Israel as God's own people.

11So Paul stayed there a year and six months, teaching God's message among them.

11And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

12While Gallio was the Roman governor of the province of Achaia, the Jews joined together against Paul and brought him before the judge's seat.

12And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat,

Note"Deputy" is the KJV's word for a proconsul, the governor of a province administered by the Roman Senate. Gallio was the brother of the philosopher Seneca; an inscription found at Delphi fixes his time in office at roughly AD 51 to 52, which makes this the firmest date anywhere in Paul's travels. "Made insurrection" does not mean a revolt against Rome; it means they moved against Paul together, as one body. The "judgment seat" was the bema, a raised stone platform in the public square from which a governor heard cases; the one at Corinth has been excavated.

13They said, "This man is talking people into worshiping God in ways that break the law."

13Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law.

Note"The law" is left unspecified in the Greek and the ambiguity may be deliberate. It could mean the Jewish law, in which case the quarrel is internal, or Roman law, in which case the charge is that Paul is promoting a religion outside the legal protection Judaism enjoyed. Gallio's answer treats it as the first.

14Paul was just about to speak when Gallio said to the Jews, "If you were charging him with a crime or some serious wrong, it would make sense for me to listen to you.

14And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you:

Note"Lewdness" in 1611 meant wickedness or villainy in general, with no particular sexual sense; the Greek word suggests fraud or a piece of unscrupulous mischief. "Reason would that I should bear with you" means it would be reasonable for me to hear you out.

15But since this is an argument about words and names and your own law, settle it yourselves. I refuse to judge such matters."

15But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters.

Note"Look ye to it" means see to it yourselves. A Roman governor had wide discretion to refuse cases he judged to fall outside Roman law.

16And he drove them away from the judge's seat.

16And he drave them from the judgment seat.

Note"Drave" is the old past tense of drove.

17Then the crowd of Greeks grabbed Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him right in front of the judge's seat. But Gallio paid no attention to any of it.

17Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. And Gallio cared for none of those things.

NoteManuscripts differ over "all the Greeks": some read simply "they all," leaving it unclear who did the beating. A Sosthenes appears again as a companion of Paul at the opening of First Corinthians, though the name was common. "Cared for none of those things" can mean Gallio was indifferent to the violence or that he regarded none of it as his business; the Greek does not settle which.

18Paul stayed in Corinth for quite a while longer. Then he said goodbye to the believers and sailed for Syria, taking Priscilla and Aquila with him. At the port of Cenchrea he had his head shaved, because he had made a promise to God.

18And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.

Note"Tarried" means stayed and "the brethren" means fellow believers, men and women together. Cenchrea was Corinth's harbor on the eastern side of the isthmus. Shaving the head marked the end of a vow of the kind described in Numbers 6, in which a person set apart a period of time to God, left the hair uncut for its duration, then cut it off and brought offerings. In the Greek the phrase "having shorn his head" stands next to Aquila's name, so it is not certain whether Paul or Aquila made the vow, though most take it to be Paul.

19They came to Ephesus, and Paul left Priscilla and Aquila there. He himself went into the synagogue and talked things through with the Jews.

19And he came to Ephesus, and left them there: but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews.

NoteEphesus was the leading city of the Roman province of Asia, on the western coast of what is now Turkey, a major port and the site of the temple of Artemis. Paul will later spend some years there.

20They asked him to stay longer with them, but he would not.

20When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not;

21He said goodbye to them, telling them, "I must be sure to be in Jerusalem for the feast that is coming. But I will come back to you if God is willing." Then he sailed from Ephesus.

21But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.

NoteThe words about keeping the coming feast in Jerusalem are missing from the earliest manuscripts and appear only in later ones, which the King James translators were following. The feast would have been one of the pilgrimage festivals, most likely Passover or Pentecost.

22He landed at Caesarea, went up and greeted the church there, and then went down to Antioch.

22And when he had landed at Caesarea, and gone up, and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch.

NoteOne always "goes up" to Jerusalem and "down" from it in this idiom, whatever the compass direction, because the city stands high in the hill country. Jerusalem is not named here, but "went up" and then "went down to Antioch" implies it. Caesarea was the Roman administrative port on the coast of Judea; Antioch in Syria was the church that had first sent Paul out.

23After spending some time in Antioch, he left and traveled from place to place through the regions of Galatia and Phrygia, making all the followers of Jesus stronger.

23And after he had spent some time there, he departed, and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples.

NoteGalatia and Phrygia were inland regions of Asia Minor, in modern Turkey, containing towns Paul had evangelized earlier. "In order" means one place after another, in sequence along the route.

24A Jew named Apollos, who came from the city of Alexandria, arrived in Ephesus. He spoke well, and he knew the Scriptures deeply.

24And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.

NoteAlexandria in Egypt held the largest Jewish community outside Judea and was a center of learning where the Scriptures were studied and interpreted in Greek. The Greek word rendered "eloquent" can mean a skilled speaker or a learned man, and either sense fits. "Mighty in the scriptures" means powerfully versed in the Jewish Scriptures, what Christians later called the Old Testament, which were the only Scriptures then in existence.

25He had been taught about the way of the Lord. He was full of eager energy, and he spoke and taught carefully about Jesus, though the only baptism he knew about was the one John the Baptist had preached.

25This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.

Note"Instructed" translates a word for formal oral teaching, being taken through the material step by step. "Fervent in the spirit" renders a phrase that literally means boiling; the Greek leaves open whether this is his own eagerness or the Holy Spirit at work in him. "Diligently" here means accurately rather than merely hard working. The "baptism of John" was John the Baptist's washing in the Jordan as a sign of repentance and of readiness for the one who was coming, which was not the same thing as the baptism practiced in Jesus' name.

26He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more fully and exactly.

26And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.

Note"More perfectly" means more accurately or more fully; in 1611 "perfectly" carried the sense of completely, not flawlessly. Priscilla is named before her husband here and in several other places, which was unusual enough in Greek writing to be worth noticing.

27When Apollos decided to cross over to Achaia, the believers encouraged him and wrote a letter asking the followers there to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who had come to believe through God's kindness.

27And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace:

Note"Disposed" means decided or minded to go. Letters of introduction were the ordinary machinery of travel in the ancient world, vouching for a stranger to a community that had no other way to check him. In the Greek, "through grace" can attach either to the helping or to the believing, so the sentence may mean that he helped them greatly by God's kindness, or that he helped those who had come to believe by God's kindness.

28In public debate he proved the Jews wrong with great force, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

28For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.

Note"Convinced" in 1611 meant refuted, to prove someone wrong in argument, not to win them over. "Publickly" is the old spelling; the point is that this happened in open debate rather than in private. "The scriptures" are again the Jewish Scriptures, the common ground both sides accepted.