The phrase a city of the first district of Macedonia represents an attempt to make sense out of a very difficult Greek text, and there are other possibilities, as the Good News Translation alternative renderings indicate: “the main city of the district of Macedonia” or “the main city of that district in Macedonia.” The problem is that Philippi was not the chief city in the province of Macedonia; Thessalonica was both the leading city and the capital. Moreover, Macedonia had been divided into four districts, and Philippi was not the leading city of the district in which it was located; that honor had gone to the capital city of the district, Amphipolis. The rendering in the Good News Translation actually translates a conjecture as to what may have been the original reading of the Greek, and it seems to make the best sense in the context.

In rendering the expression a city of the first district of Macedonia, it may be necessary to be somewhat more specific than the Good News Translation phrase is—for example, “a city which was located in the first region of the province of Macedonia.” In order to supplement the meaning of first district, it may be useful to have a marginal note indicating that there were four districts and that Philippi was simply located in what was regarded as the first of these districts. Where already existing translations have established a tradition of regarding Philippi as a “leading city” or “very important city,” it may be necessary to provide some supplementary note which will indicate the basis for this different translation.

Apart from a geographical location, there was no difference between living in a city located in Italy and in a Roman colony abroad. The rights of a colony were essentially threefold: self-government, freedom from taxes and tributes, and the same privileges as the citizens of any Italian city. It is not easy in some languages to find an adequate expression for Roman colony. In some instances the closest equivalent is “a city which had been built by the Romans” or “a city which had been populated by people who came from Rome.” It may even be useful at this point to have a marginal note describing precisely what a Roman colony was. This would be useful to the average reader in understanding something of the implications of the latter part of this chapter.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .