The Variant Readings of the Western Text of the Acts of the Apostles 125 [A’] 14.21-27 Return to Antioch of Syria Overview This closing sequence of the section relates how Paul and Barnabas return to Antioch of Syria from where the section began (cf. 13.1). It is as succinct as the opening one, [A] 13.1-3, to which it corresponds, summarizing how the initial order of the Holy Spirit to the church in Antioch, and to Paul and Barnabas in particular, had been carried out successfully. The sequence follows a linear structure as the main protagonists travel along a direct route to return to their point of departure, from Derbe to Antioch of Syria: [a] 14.21-22 Start of the return journey from Derbe [b] 14.23 Lystra, Iconium and Antioch [c] 14.24 Arrival in PamphiliaPamphylia [d] 14.25 Perga and Attalia [e] 14.26 Departure for Antioch of Syria [f] 14.27 Report in Antioch Each of the places they had stopped at on the mainland (cf. 13.13) is named as they pass through them in turn and build up the churches that had been established there. The conjunction in the ATAlexandrian text at 14.21 is τε which, if intended, links the start of the return journey to the previous element (14.20b) rather than beginning a new sequence here. However, since no new episode is indicated elsewhere in the ATAlexandrian text between 14.21 and the end of the return journey at 14.27, it is likely that this τε is to be read as δέ. The paragraph break indicated by N-A27 at 14.24 is not supported by the conjunction καί in the text adopted there. Likeweise, the following sequence begins at 14.28 with δέ, and not 15.1.1 1 Commentators divide the text in a variety of ways, often ignoring the distinct func- tions of καί and δέ. For example, Barrett (I, p. 689) follows the same division as N-A27, viewing the travelling through Pisidia as the start of the return journey, although the start was, in fact, back in Lystra (14.21); Fitzmeyer (p. 534) recognizes the break at 14.21, but not 14.28; Bruce (Text, p. 287) and Witherington (Acts, p. 450) indicate a break only at 15.1. Lake and Cadbury (English Translation and Commentary, p. 169) regard 14.27–15.2 as a separate, brief paragraph: this has the advantage, at least, of keeping together the two imperfect verbs (διέτριβον, 14.28 … ἐδίδασκον, 15.1) which, linked with καί as they are, indicate concurrent action.