17:7a

Jason has welcomed them into his home: This clause indicates that Jason gave meals and a place to sleep in his house to Paul and Silas. He took care of their needs while in his house. Other ways to translate this clause are:

Jason has taken them into his house (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
Jason is caring for them in his house
-or-
they have been staying at Jason’s (New Jerusalem Bible)

17:7b

They…all: This phrase in Greek is literally “all these (men).” It indicates that the crowd thought that Paul and Silas were bad people. The word all probably includes all Christians and exaggerates the threat that the crowd claimed them to be. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

All of these ⌊bad⌋ men
-or-
These people…all

defying Caesar’s decrees: The word decrees refer to commands by a leader. In this case, Caesar wrote them. The Roman senate (the group that made Roman laws) did not pass or affirm these decrees, so they were not laws in that sense.

Years earlier Caesar decreed that people were not allowed to predict the future, predict the death of the emperor, or predict a new emperor. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

acting against the decrees of Caesar (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
have broken Caesar’s edicts (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
oppose what Caesar has decreed

Caesar’s: This word is the possessive form of the family name of the first five Roman emperors. The last, Nero, was ruling at this time. He was the leader of the Romans and all the people groups that the Romans had conquered.

If people in your area are not familiar with this name, you may want to explain it in a footnote. An example footnote is:

The word “Caesar” was the surname of the highest leader of the city of Rome and of the Roman empire.

17:7c

saying that there is another king, named Jesus: This clause explains what the crowd meant by “defying Caesar’s decrees.” They implied here that believers were rebelling against the Roman government by saying Jesus was the most important ruler and not Caesar. Other ways to translate this clause are:

by claiming that there is another king, Jesus (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
by claiming that someone named Jesus is king (Contemporary English Version)

another king: To Greeks, this phrase would refer to a rival leader to Caesar. So these Jews claimed that the Christians wanted Jesus to replace Caesar. For example:

rival king (Revised English Bible)

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