Note that though Paul and Silas left the prison, they did not immediately leave the city but went to Lydia’s house. There they met with the brothers, that is, “the fellow believers.”

Words of encouragement are “words which encouraged the people” or, as in some languages, “they encouraged the fellow believers by what they said to them.” The final verb left must refer to “leaving the city.”

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 .