17:4a

Some of the Jews: This phrase in Greek is literally “some of them.” Since Paul and Silas were in a synagogue, the pronoun “them” refers to Jews. The Berean Standard Bible probably translates the pronoun “them” as Jews to clearly indicate that this group were Jews, and not the Greeks and Greek women of 17:4b.

were persuaded: This refers to the Jews deciding that what Paul said was true. For example:

believed what Paul had said (Contemporary English Version)

joined Paul and Silas: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as joined is literally “were assigned to.” God assigned these Jews to be in the same group as Paul and Silas. They were now in God’s family as believers in Jesus, like Paul and Silas. Other ways to translate this word are:

were assigned to be with Paul and Silas
-or-

⌊God⌋ brought them into the group of Paul and Silas
-or-
became a part of Paul and Silas’s group

17:4b–c

along with a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few leading women: The words along with indicate that these groups also were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas. Other ways to translate this are:

along with many of the Greeks who worshiped God and many of the important women (New Century Version)
-or-
A large number of God-fearing Greeks and many prominent women were also persuaded and joined Paul and Silas.

17:4b

God-fearing Greeks:
The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as God-fearing means “worshiping.” Here these Greek men worshiped the God of the Jews. But they had not converted completely to Judaism by being circumcised. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

Greeks who worshiped God (Good News Translation)
-or-
Greek men who worshiped ⌊the true⌋ God

Greeks: The basic meaning of this word is “people who are from Greece.” But in the New Testament the word usually refers to anyone who is not a Jew. So it includes Romans and other non-Jewish peoples. In some languages a literal translation would wrongly refer only to people from Greece. If that is true in your language, you may want to:

• Use a more general word. For example:

Gentiles (Contemporary English Version)

• Explain its meaning in a footnote. An example footnote is:

This word in the New Testament usually refers to anyone who is not a Jew. Most of the people here were probably Greeks, but there may have been some Romans and people from other nations.

quite a few: The phrase quite a few is a figure of speech that emphasizes the meaning of “many.”

leading women: These women had high status in Thessalonica. They were probably Greek women rather Jewish women. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

prominent women (New International Version)
-or-
important women (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
influential ⌊Greek⌋ women

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