Acts Chapter 17 verse 6 Holy Bible
And when they found them not, they dragged Jason and certain brethren before the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;
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And when they were not able to get them, they took Jason and some of the brothers by force before the rulers of the town, crying, These men, who have made trouble all over the world have now come here;
read chapter 17 in BBE
and not having found them, dragged Jason and certain brethren before the politarchs, crying out, These [men] that have set the world in tumult, are come here also,
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And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;
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read chapter 17 in WBT
When they didn't find them, they dragged Jason and certain brothers{The word for "brothers" here and where the context allows may be also correctly translated "brothers and sisters" or "siblings."} before the rulers of the city, crying, "These who have turned the world upside down have come here also,
read chapter 17 in WEB
and not having found them, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the city rulers, calling aloud -- `These, having put the world in commotion, are also here present,
read chapter 17 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 6. - Dragged for drew, A.V.; before for unto, A.V. Certain brethren; some of the Thessalonian Christians who happened to be in the house of Jason. The rulers of the city (τοὺς πολιτάρχας, and ver. 8). This is a remarkable instance of St. Luke's accuracy. The word is unknown in Greek literature. But an inscription on an ancient marble arch, still standing in Thessalonica, or Saloniki, records that Thessalonica was governed by seven politarchs (see the inscription in Conybeare and Howson, col. 1. p. 360). Thessalonica was a Greek city, governed by its own laws. Hence the mention of the δῆμος in ver. 5. The polit-archs also were Greek, not Roman, magistrates. Crying; βοῶντες, often followed by μεγάλῃ φωνῇ (Acts 8:7; Mark 15:34, etc.), but whether so followed or not, always meaning "a loud cry" or "shout" (Acts 21:34; Luke 3:4, etc.). Turned the world upside down; ἀναστατόω is used in the New Testament only by St. Luke and St. Paul (Acts 21:38; Galatians 5:12); to unsettle or disturb; i.e. to make people literally ἀναστάτους homeless, outcasts, from their former settlements, or, metaphorically, unsettled in their allegiance to their civil or spiritual rulers, is the meaning of the word. In the mouth of St. Paul's accusers it contains a distinct charge of sedition and disobedience to the Roman law. The world (τὴν οἰκουμένην the Roman empire (Luke 2:1), viewed as coextensive with the habitable globe (see ver. 31; Acts 19:20; Acts 11:28, note).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(6) Unto the rulers of the city.--The Greek term here, politarchae, is a very peculiar one, and occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, nor, indeed, in any classical writer. Aristotle, whose Politics well-nigh exhausts the list of all known official titles in Greek cities, does not mention it, although he gives an analogous title (Politophylakes) as found at Larissa and elsewhere (Pol. v. 6). An inscription on an arch that still spans (or did so till quite lately) one of the streets of the modern city Saloniki, shows it to have been a special official title of that city, and St. Luke's use of it may, therefore, be noted as an instance of his accuracy in such matters. The inscription is probably of the date of Vespasian, but it contains some names that are identical with those of the converts in the apostolic history, Sosipater ("Sopater," Acts 20:4), Gaius (Acts 19:29), and Secundus (Acts 20:4). It would seem from the inscription that, as with the Archons of Athens, there were seven magistrates who bore the title.
