Acts 14:25
And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.
BSB
ASV
And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia;
KJV
And when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down into Attalia:
And when they had preached the word in Perga,.... A city in Pamphylia, Act 13:13. The Alexandrian copy, and others, and three manuscripts of Beza's, read, "the word of the Lord"; as do the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions: they went down into "Attalia"; not Italia or Italy, as some Latin copies, and as the Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions read; but a city in Pamphylia, bordering on the sea, as Ptolomy writes (b); as this place did, as appears by what follows.
That the gospel was now preached to Jews and Gentiles together, and those of each denomination that believed came together into the church. In the close of the foregoing chapter it was preached first to the Jews, and some of them believed, and then to the Gentiles, and some of them believed; but here they are put together, being put upon the same level.
In Perga - See the notes on Act 13:13. They went down into Attalia - “Attalia had something of the same relation to Perga which Cadiz has to Seville. In each case the latter city is approached by a river voyage, and the former is more conveniently placed on the open sea. Attalus Philadelphus, king of Pergamus, whose dominions extended from the northwestern corner of Asia Miner to the Sea of Pamphylia, had built this city in a convenient position for commanding the trade of Syria or Egypt.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
