Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Acts 17:6

ἔσυρον Ἰάσονα, they dragged Jason. σύρειν is expressive of considerable violence. It is used (Acts 8:3) of Saul, ‘haling’ men and women and committing them to prison.

On Jason’s conduct, Chrysostom says: θαυμαστὸς ὁ�, εἰς κίνδυνον ἑαυτὸν ἐκδοὺς καὶ ἐκπέμψας αὐτούς.

καί τινας�, and certain brethren. Hence we find that in these three weeks a Church had been formed, a Christian society established.

ἐπὶ τοὺς πολιτάρχας, to the rulers of the city. The title πολιτάρχης is found nowhere in literature except in this chapter. But an inscription connected with this very city of Thessalonica has been preserved on an arch which spans a street of the modern city. It contains some names which occur as the names of St Paul’s converts, Sosipater, Gains, Secundus, but the inscription is probably not earlier than the time of Vespasian (see Boeckh, Inscr. 2, p. 52, n. 1967). There the title of the magistrates is given in this precise form; a striking confirmation of the truthfulness of the account before us.

τὴν οἰκουμένην, the world. Lit. ‘the inhabited earth.’ A phrase used in later Greek to signify the whole Roman Empire, which then embraced a very large portion of the known world (cf. Luke 2:1). It speaks much for the spread of Christianity and its powerful influence, that words like these should come from the lips of enemies.

ἀναστατώσαντες, having turned upside down. The word is very rare, used by Aquila and Symmachus, and perhaps in Psalms 10:1 (LXX.), though this is not the reading of the Vatican MS. In N.T. we have it here and Acts 21:38; and Galatians 5:12.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Acts 17:6

Old Testament

New Testament