17:8a–b

On hearing this, the crowd and city officials were greatly disturbed: The Greek words are literally “they shook/stirred the crowd and the city officials, hearing these (things).” It indicates that the crowd and the city officials heard what the leaders of the mob said and it made them distressed and troubled. The leaders of the mob purposely said those things to make the city leaders distressed with the Christians. Other ways to translate this are:

These words made the crowd and the city officials upset/angry.
-or-
Hearing this, the citizens and the city councillors were alarmed (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard this. (Revised Standard Version)

17:8b

the crowd and city officials: The city officials were probably at the public area that the Berean Standard Bible usually translates as “marketplace” (16:19d). This was the usual place where the city officials worked. The public area had the market and other kinds of public activities. In this public area were many people. The word crowd refers to the people in the public area. It does not refer to the mob that went to Jason’s house, because they were already angry and rioting.

In some languages a literal translation would wrongly refer only to the mob. If that is true in your language, you may want to explain it in your translation. For example:

the crowds ⌊at the public square⌋ and the city officials

city officials: This is the same Greek word as in 17:6b. Translate it here as you did there.

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