ACTs 17:19 Parallel Verse View

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Text critical issues=small word differences Clarity of original=clear Importance=normal (All still tentative.)

OET (OET-RV) So they grabbed him and brought him to the Aries Hill where the council sat and asked, “Are we allowed to know what this new teaching that you’re bringing is about?

Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, orange:accusative/object, pink:genitive/possessor.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT And taking hold of him, they brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “Are we able to know what this new teaching is that is being spoken by you?

UST So they invited Paul to come with them to the place where the philosophers in the city met. They told Paul, “Please come with us, because we would like to know what this new message is that you are teaching people.

BSB § So they took Paul and brought him to the Areopagus,[fn] where they asked him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

17:19 Or Ares Hill or Mars Hill; also in verse 22 and added for clarity in verse 33

BLB And having taken hold of him they brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "Are we able to know what is this new teaching which is spoken by you.

AICNT And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

OEB So they laid hold of him and took him to the Court of Areopagus.
¶  ‘May we hear,’ they asked, ‘what new teaching this is which you are giving?

WEBBE They took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is, which you are speaking about?

WMBB (Same as above)

NET So they took Paul and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are proclaiming?

LSV having also taken him, they brought [him] to the Areopagus, saying, “Are we able to know what this new teaching [is] that is spoken by you,

FBV So they took him to the Areopagus[fn], and asked him, “Please tell us about this new teaching that you're promoting.

17:19 A kind of discussion forum of philosophers.

TCNT So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that yoʋ are presenting?

T4T So they took Paul to the place where the city council met. When they arrived there, they said to Paul, “Please tell us, what is this new message that you (sg) are teaching people?

LEB And they took hold of him and[fn] brought him[fn] to the Areopagus, saying, “May we learn what is this new teaching being proclaimed by you?

17:19 *Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“took hold of”) has been translated as a finite verb

17:19 *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation

BBE And they took him to Mars' Hill, saying, Will you make clear to us what is this new teaching of yours?

Moff No Moff ACTs book available

Wymth Then they took him and brought him up to the Areopagus, asking him, "May we be told what this new teaching of yours is?

ASV And they took hold of him, and brought him unto the Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new teaching is, which is spoken by thee?

DRA And taking him, they brought him to the Areopagus, saying: May we know what this new doctrine is, which thou speakest of?

YLT having also taken him, unto the Areopagus they brought [him], saying, 'Are we able to know what [is] this new teaching that is spoken by thee,

Drby And having taken hold on him they brought [him] to Areopagus, saying, Might we know what this new doctrine which is spoken by thee [is]?

RV And they took hold of him, and brought him unto the Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new teaching is, which is spoken by thee?

Wbstr And they took him, and brought him to Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine is , of which thou speakest?

KJB-1769 And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?
(And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou/you speakest, is? )

KJB-1611 [fn]And they tooke him, and brought him vnto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above apart from footnotes)

17:19 Or, Mars-hill: It was the highest court in Athens.

Bshps And they toke hym, and brought him into Marce streate, saying: Maye we not knowe what this newe doctrine wherof thou speakest is?
(And they took him, and brought him into Marce street, saying: May we not know what this new doctrine wherof thou/you speakest is?)

Gnva And they tooke him, and brought him into Mars streete, saying, May we not know, what this newe doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?
(And they took him, and brought him into Mars street, saying, May we not know, what this new doctrine, whereof thou/you speakest, is? )

Cvdl And they toke him, and broughte him before the councell house, and sayde: Maye we not knowe, what new doctryne this is that thou teachest?
(And they took him, and brought him before the council/counsel house, and said: May we not knowe, what new doctrine this is that thou/you teachest?)

TNT And they toke him and brought him into Marsestrete sayinge: maye we not knowe what this newe doctrine wher of thou speakest is?
(And they took him and brought him into Marsestreet saying: may we not know what this new doctrine wher of thou/you speakest is? )

Wycl And thei token, and ledden hym to Ariopage, and seide, Moun we wite, what is this newe doctryne, that is seid of thee?
(And they token, and ledden him to Ariopage, and said, Moun we wite, what is this new doctrine, that is said of thee?)

Luth Sie nahmen ihn aber und führeten ihn auf den Richtplatz und sprachen: Können wir auch erfahren, was das für eine neue Lehre sei, die du lehrest?
(They/She took him/it but and led him/it on the Richtplatz and said: Können we/us also erfahren, what/which the for one neue Lehre sei, the you lehrest?)

ClVg Et apprehensum eum ad Areopagum duxerunt, dicentes: Possumus scire quæ est hæc nova, quæ a te dicitur, doctrina?[fn]
(And apprehensum him to Areopagum duxerunt, saying: Possumus scire which it_is these_things nova, which from you(sg) it_is_said, doctrina? )

17.19 Ad Areopagum. RAB. Nomen est curiæ apud Athenas, dictum ab idolo Martis, quod apud eos Arios vocatur.

17.19 Ad Areopagum. RAB. Nomen it_is curiæ apud Athenas, dictum away idolo Martis, that apud them Arios vocatur.

UGNT ἐπιλαβόμενοί τε αὐτοῦ, ἐπὶ τὸν Ἄρειον Πάγον ἤγαγον λέγοντες, δυνάμεθα γνῶναι τίς ἡ καινὴ αὕτη, ἡ ὑπὸ σοῦ λαλουμένη, διδαχή?
(epilabomenoi te autou, epi ton Areion Pagon aʸgagon legontes, dunametha gnōnai tis haʸ kainaʸ hautaʸ, haʸ hupo sou laloumenaʸ, didaⱪaʸ?)

SBL-GNT ἐπιλαβόμενοί ⸀τε αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὸν Ἄρειον Πάγον ἤγαγον, λέγοντες· Δυνάμεθα γνῶναι τίς ἡ καινὴ αὕτη ἡ ὑπὸ σοῦ λαλουμένη διδαχή;
(epilabomenoi ⸀te autou epi ton Areion Pagon aʸgagon, legontes; Dunametha gnōnai tis haʸ kainaʸ hautaʸ haʸ hupo sou laloumenaʸ didaⱪaʸ;)

TC-GNT Ἐπιλαβόμενοί [fn]τε αὐτοῦ, ἐπὶ τὸν Ἄρειον πάγον ἤγαγον λέγοντες, Δυνάμεθα γνῶναι, τίς ἡ καινὴ αὕτη ἡ ὑπὸ σοῦ λαλουμένη διδαχή;
(Epilabomenoi te autou, epi ton Areion pagon aʸgagon legontes, Dunametha gnōnai, tis haʸ kainaʸ hautaʸ haʸ hupo sou laloumenaʸ didaⱪaʸ; )

17:19 τε ¦ δε WH

Key for above GNTs: red:words differ (from our SR-GNT base).

TTN Tyndale Theme Notes:

The Unknown God

When Paul spoke to the Areopagus, the “high council of the city” of Athens (Acts 17:19), he was speaking to people who did not share his faith in the God of Abraham and Moses who had revealed himself “many times and in many ways to [his] ancestors through the prophets” (Heb 1:1). The members of his audience had a very different definition of the divine. A host of divinities inhabited their world, and the common people retained much of their belief in the ancient gods. But many of the cultural elite of Athens no longer believed in the gods in any literal sense. Instead, they held to either a form of materialism (the physical is everything) or pantheism (the divine inhabits everything).

What they all shared in common was the absence of the idea that there is one true God who is Lord of all. Their myths told of the activities of various gods, but they did not have faith that the ultimate reality, God himself, could be known. Instead, they reasoned and discussed “the latest ideas,” hoping for a better understanding of the nature of things.

There were a wide variety of philosophical ideas current in Athens when Paul visited, but two main schools of thought dominated, Stoicism and Epicureanism (Acts 17:18).

Zeno of Citium (334~262 BC) founded Stoicism. Stoics studied nature’s laws and believed in the Logos, a pervasive organizing and sustaining force that gives all things their essential nature and so gives life and reason to humanity. The good life is one in which reason rules, and peace of mind and harmony with nature prevail. Many prominent statesmen were Stoics or influenced by Stoicism, including Cicero, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius. Stoic ideas proved attractive to some Christians because of the similarities between the Stoic logos and the divine Logos (John 1:1-18), and between the idea of natural law and the law of God.

Those who followed Epicurus (341–270 BC) were empiricists; they relied upon sense experience (as opposed to reason) for knowledge. Epicureans were concerned with natural evidence and were unenthusiastic about mathematics. Their focus was ethics, the study of right behavior; they judged the value of an action or thing in terms of the pleasure or pain it brought. Epicurus saw belief in gods (meddling and powerful beings who terrified ordinary mortals) as a serious threat to tranquility. For him and his followers, neither the gods nor death (which is the end) should be feared.

When Paul spoke in that context, he used their own poets to proclaim things that they could barely comprehend: That the God who made everything is both personal and knowable; that he revealed himself clearly, historically, and definitively in Jesus Christ; that death is not followed by either the cessation of existence or the migration of the soul, but by judgment; and that the proof of all of this is the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

What was foolishness to most of the Greeks of Athens turns out to be the ultimate truth: God is knowable, and can be known through Jesus Christ.

Passages for Further Study

Ps 50:7-15; Isa 42:5-7; Acts 17:16-32; Rom 1:18-32; Col 1:15-23; 2:6-12; 1 Thes 1:9-10; Heb 1:1-4

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: translate-transliterate

Ἄρειον Πάγον

Aries Hill

The word Areopagus means “Hill of Ares” in Greek. It was named after the pagan god whose name was Ares in Greek and Mars in Latin. Luke does not explain the meaning of this word, since his readers already understand Greek. ULT spells this name the way it sounds in English. In your translation, you could spell it the way it sounds in your language. You could also translate the meaning of the word and use the name “Mars Hill,” as UST does. Or you could spell the word the way it sounds and then explain its meaning. Alternate translation: “Mars Hill” or “the Areopagus, that is, Mars Hill”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy

ἐπὶ τὸν Ἄρειον Πάγον

to the Aries Hill

Luke most likely means that the philosophers from the marketplace brought Paul to meet the main group of philosophers on the Areopagus, not that they just brought Paul to the hill itself. Luke would be using the word Areopagus by association to mean the philosophers who gathered there. Alternate translation: “to the philosophers who met on the Areopagus”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / rquestion

δυνάμεθα γνῶναι τίς ἡ καινὴ αὕτη, ἡ ὑπὸ σοῦ λαλουμένη, διδαχή?

˱we˲_/are/_being_able /to/_know what_‹is› ¬the new this which by you /being/_spoken teaching_‹is›

This is not actually a rhetorical question, since the philosophers really do want to know whether Paul is willing to explain himself more fully to the group at the Areopagus. However, if in your language it might seem to be a rhetorical question, you could translate it as a statement instead. Alternate translation: “We would like to know what this new teaching is that is being spoken by you”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / exclusive

δυνάμεθα

˱we˲_/are/_being_able

By we, the philosophers mean themselves but not Paul, to whom they are speaking, so use the exclusive form of that word in your translation if your language marks that distinction.

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

ἡ ὑπὸ σοῦ λαλουμένη

¬the which by you /being/_spoken

If your language does not use this passive form, you could express the idea in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. Alternate translation: “that you are speaking”

Parallel ACTs 17:19