Paragraph 28:21–22

28:21a

We have not received any letters about you from Judea: The phrase from Judea implies from the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. The Jewish leaders living in Rome said here (and in 28:21b–c) that they did not know of any problems between Paul and the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. The Jewish leaders in Rome implied that they had no plans to do anything against Paul.

We have not received any letters: This indicates that no letters had come to them. This clause does not imply that they knew of letters but refused to take them. Another way to translate this clause is:

No letters have come to us

Judea: This is a province that included Jerusalem. But both Paul and the Jewish leaders were familiar with what Judea was, so they would not have described it as a province here.

28:21b

any of the brothers: Here the word brothers refers to fellow Jews. In some languages a literal translation would wrongly indicate fellow Christians. If so, you may want to indicate the correct meaning in some way. For example:

any of our people (Good News Translation)
-or-
any countryman of ours (Revised English Bible)

28:21c

reported or even mentioned: Here the word reported probably refers to an official report from the leaders in Jerusalem. Then the words even mentioned refer to any unofficial story or information about Paul that someone may have told the Jewish leaders in Rome. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

any report or story (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
said anything, officially or unofficially, (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

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