Acts 18

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

Paul in Corinth

¹ After these things Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth. ² And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome; and he came to them. ³ So, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked; for by trade they were tentmakers. ⁴ And he reasoned in the synagogue every Shabbat, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks.

⁵ When Silas and Timothy had come down from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in spirit, and testified to the Jews that Yeshua is the Messiah. ⁶ But when they opposed him and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, "Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the nations." ⁷ And he departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justus, one who worshiped Elohim, whose house was next door to the synagogue. ⁸ Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.

⁹ Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; ¹⁰ for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you; for I have many people in this city." ¹¹ And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of Elohim among them.

¹² But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat, ¹³ saying, "This man persuades men to worship Elohim contrary to the Torah." ¹⁴ And when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, "If it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes, O Jews, there would be reason why I should bear with you. ¹⁵ But if it is a question of words and names and your own Torah, look to it yourselves; for I do not want to be a judge of such matters." ¹⁶ And he drove them from the judgment seat. ¹⁷ Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. But Gallio took no notice of these things.

Paul returns to Antioch

¹⁸ So Paul still remained many days. Then he took leave of the brothers and sailed for Syria, and Priscilla and Aquila were with him, having had his hair cut off at Cenchreae, for he had taken a vow. ¹⁹ And he came to Ephesus, and left them there; but he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. ²⁰ When they asked him to stay a longer time with them, he did not consent, ²¹ but took leave of them, saying, "I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem; but I will return again to you, Elohim willing." And he sailed from Ephesus. ²² And when he had landed at Caesarea, and gone up and greeted the assembly, he went down to Antioch. ²³ After he had spent some time there, he departed and went over the region of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples.

Apollos

²⁴ Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; he was mighty in the Scriptures. ²⁵ This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. ²⁶ He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of Elohim more accurately. ²⁷ And when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brothers wrote, urging the disciples to receive him; and when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace; ²⁸ for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Yeshua is the Messiah.

Notes

• 18:2 The Roman writer Suetonius says that Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome because of constant disturbances "at the instigation of Chrestus," which many take as a garbled reference to disputes over the Messiah (Christus); the order is usually dated about AD 49. Aquila and Priscilla were Jews, and Paul, like many Jewish teachers of his time, worked at a trade (verse 3); later Jewish sayings also commend joining the study of Torah with work (Mishnah Avot 2:2).
• 18:12 An inscription found at Delphi dates Gallio's year as proconsul to about AD 51-52, one of the firmest dates for Paul's journeys. Gallio treated the charge as a question of "your own Torah" (verse 15), a dispute inside the Jewish community and not a Roman crime; Rome generally allowed the Jews to live by their own laws.
• 18:18 Cutting the hair at the end of a vow recalls the Nazirite vow, in which the hair was let grow and then shaved, when "the days are fulfilled" (Numbers 6:5, 18). The Torah ties that final shaving to the sanctuary, so many think this was a related private vow, completed with offerings in Jerusalem (verses 21-22); later Jewish law also discusses vows made outside the land. The Greek could refer to Aquila, but most read it of Paul, who later shares in the vow of four men at the temple (21:23-26).
• 18:21 The words "I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem" are in the Majority Text, which the TRB follows; many modern Bibles, following other manuscripts, leave them out. Luke does not name the feast; many think of Passover or Shavuot. In verse 22, "gone up" is usually understood as going up to Jerusalem, as one always "went up" to the city.
• 18:26 Apollos already taught "accurately" (akribōs, verse 25), and yet Aquila and Priscilla explained the way of Elohim to him "more accurately" (akribesteron). He was not wrong about everything, but he knew "only the baptism of John"; they spoke with him privately, he listened, and he went on to help many (verses 27-28).

Acts 17 · Acts 19

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