| 1. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the aorist participle diodeusantes {Διοδεύσαντες | Diodeúsantes} “having passed through,” which functions adverbially to provide background circumstance for the main verb elthon {ἦλθον | ḗlthon} “they came.” The conjunction de {δὲ | dè} links this travel notice to the previous narrative while moving the action forward. The repeated article–noun constructions ten Amphipolin {τὴν Ἀμφίπολιν | tḕn Amphípolin} and ten Apollonian {τὴν Ἀπολλωνίαν | tḕn Apollōnían} mark the intermediate cities as direct objects of the participle, indicating that these locations were passed through rather than the final destination. The prepositional phrase eis Thessaloniken {εἰς Θεσσαλονίκην | eis Thessaloníkēn} signals arrival at the goal of the journey with eis plus accusative denoting movement into the city. The relative adverb hopou {ὅπου | hópou} “where” introduces a new clause that shifts from travel to setting within Thessalonica. In this clause, en {ἦν | ên} “there was” serves as an existential verb, presenting synagoge {συναγωγὴ | synagōgḗ} “synagogue” as the focal noun. The genitive phrase ton Ioudaion {τῶν Ἰουδαίων | tôn Ioudaíōn} “of the Jews” modifies synagoge, specifying the ethnic and religious identity of the community that gathers there. English word order is adjusted to maintain natural flow while preserving the sequential progression (passing through intermediate cities, arriving at Thessalonica, locating the synagogue) and the prominence of the Jewish synagogue as the narrative point of interest. |