For the next few weeks I have a few folks meeting at my house on Tuesdays to go over some stuff in the Pastoral Epistles.

We went over 1Ti 1.3-5. The always-observant Eli Evans noted the following translational differences in 1Ti 1.3:

• ESV: As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia ...
• NASB: As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia ...  (NASB95 is the same)

And here are some more, just to get a fuller picture of the ways this particular area is handled:

• NET: As I urged you when I was leaving for Macedonia ...
• NKJV: As I urged you when I went into Macedonia ...
• My own: As I urged you while I was on my way to Macedonia ...
• NA27: Καθὼς παρεκάλεσά σε προσμεῖναι ἐν Ἐφέσῳ πορευόμενος εἰς Μακεδονίαν, 

The italic text represents (more or less) the words in question. While, upon reflection, they all say pretty much the same thing — “going to Macedonia” is rather similar to “departure for” Macedonia — does the participle + preposition in this instance really have that sort of range? NA27 lists no variants for this verse, nothing in the variae lectiones minores, and nothing in the editionum differentiae. Westcott-Hort matches NA27, as does Byzantine (Robinson/Pierpont; I don't have Hodges/Farstad handy).

Admittedly, the Greek is tough to render into English, especially if you try to preserve some sort of word order. My own effort simply tried to very generally state that Paul was headed toward Macedonia; not that he was going to Macedonia, or leaving for Macedonia, or whatnot. I didn't think too much of it until I looked back at the already existing variation in the English.

Again, I don't know that it is that big of a deal; but the point is interesting. There are a number of ways to say pretty much the same thing. Is that range warranted, or is one approach better than another for some reason?

Just curious.