Sailing from there, we came the following day opposite Chios. The next day we touched at Samos and stayed at Trogyllium, and the day after we came to Miletus.
Parallel Translations
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Sailing from there, we came the following day opposite Chios. The next day we touched at Samos and stayed at Trogyllium, and the day after we came to Miletus.
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And we sayled thence and came the nexte daye over agaynst Chios. And the nexte daye we aryved at Samos and taryed at Trogilion. The nexte daye we came to Myleton:
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And wee sailed thence, and came the next day ouer against Chios, and the next day we arriued at Samos, and tarried at Trogyllium: the next day we came to Miletum.
Cross-references (2)
Passages linked to Acts 20:15 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Timothy 4:20 Erastus remained at Corinth, but I left Trophimus at Miletus sick.
- Acts 20:17 From Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to himself the elders of the assembly.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Chios; a noted island betwixt Lesbos and Samos in…
Chios; a noted island betwixt Lesbos and Samos in the Aegean Sea.
Samos; in Ionia; for there are several other islands of this name.
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Trogyllium; a promontory not far from Samos.
Miletus; a sea town upon the continent or firm land of Ionia.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus,.... That…
For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus,.... That is, to sail by it, without calling at it, as he did, for it lay by the shore before he came to Miletus; but he chose not to stop there, fearing he should be detained by the brethren there:
because he would not spend the time in Asia; of which Ephesus was the metropolis:
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for he hasted, if it were possible, for him to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost: which was near at hand; for it was but fifty days from the second day of the passover, which feast was over when he sailed from Philippi; and at Troas he stayed seven days, and he had been several days sailing already; see Act 20:6. And his great desire to be at the feast of Pentecost was not in order to keep that feast, according to the usage of the Jews; but that he might have an opportunity of preaching the Gospel to a great number of Jews, out of all countries, whom he knew would come to that feast.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 15. Over against Chios] This was a very…
Verse 15. Over against Chios] This was a very celebrated island between Lesbos and Samos, famous in antiquity for its extraordinary wines. At this island the apostle did not touch.
Arrived at Samos] This was another island of the AEgean Sea, or Archipelago. It does not appear that they landed at Samos: they passed close by it, and anchored at Trogyllium. This was a promontory of Ionia, which gave name to some small islands in the vicinity of Samos: Της δε Τρωγιλιου προκειται νησιον ὁμωνυμον: before Trogyllium is situated an island of the same name. Strabo, lib. xiv. p. 635. Pliny also mentions this place, Hist. Nat. lib. v. cap. 31. Near this place was the mouth of the famous river Maeander.
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Came to Miletus.] A celebrated city in the province of Caria, about twelve or fifteen leagues from Ephesus, according to Calmet. Miletus is famous for being the birthplace of Thales, one of the seven wise men of Greece, and founder of the Ionic sect of philosophers. Anaximander was also born here, and several other eminent men. The Turks, who lately possessed it, call it Melas.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Over against Chios - Opposite to. Into the neighborhood…
Over against Chios - Opposite to. Into the neighborhood of; or near to it. Chios, called also Coos, is an island in the Archipelago, between Lesbos and Samos. It is on the coast of Asia Minor, and is now called Scio. It will long be remembered as the seat of a dreadful massacre of almost all its inhabitants by the Turks in 1823.
At Samos - This was also an island of the Archipelago, lying off the coast of Lydia, from which it is separated by a narrow strait. These islands were celebrated among the ancients for their extraordinary wines.
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Trogyllium - This was the name of a town and promontory of Ionia in Asia Minor, between Ephesus and the mouth of the river Meander, opposite to Samos. The promontory is a spur of Mount Mycale.
Miletus - Called also Mileturn. It was a city and seaport, and the ancient capital of Ionia. It was originally composed of a colony of Cretans. It became extremely powerful, and sent out colonies to a great number of cities on the Euxine Sea. It was distinguished for a magnificent temple dedicated to Apollo. It is now called by the Turks Melas. It was the birthplace of Thales, one of the seven wise men of Greece. It was about 40 or 50 miles from Ephesus.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain came the next day over against Chios--now Scio: one…
came the next day over against Chios--now Scio: one of the most beautiful of those islands between which and the coast the sail is so charming. They appear not to have touched at it.
next day we arrived--"touched" or "put in."
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at Samos--another island coming quite close to the mainland, and about as far south of Chios as it is south of Lesbos.
tarried--for the night.
at Trogyllium--an anchorage on the projecting mainland, not more than a mile from the southern extremity of the island of Samos.
next day we came to Miletus--on the mainland; the ancient capital of Ionia, near the mouth of the Meander.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 15. And we sailed thence, and came the next…
15. And we sailed thence, and came the next day over against Chios] As the word for “next” here is not the same as that so rendered in the following clause, the Rev. Ver. gives (with more closeness to the Greek) And sailing from thence we came the following day, &c. The island of Chios is about five miles distant from the mainland. It was in the shelter of the roadstead that the Apostle and his companions passed the night in their vessel.
and the next day we arrived [touched] at Samos] The verb is a technical seafaring word, which the Rev. Ver. has thus represented. The island of Samos lies off that part of the coast of Asia Minor where the ancient Ionia joined on to Caria. It has been famous both in ancient Greek and modern European history (see Dict. of Greek and Roman Geogr. s.v.). On the mainland opposite, at the termination of the ridge of Mycale, lay Trogyllium, for which the Apostle’s vessel made without stopping in Samos.
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and tarried at Trogyllium] The oldest MSS. omit these words. How they came into the text, if they be an addition, is not easy to explain. As the previous verb only implies the “touching” at Samos, some early marginal annotator knowing the country may have thus suggested the night’s halting-place, which the historian did not mention.
and the next day we came to Miletus] Here is yet another Greek phrase for “next day.” The A.V., which often gives a varied English for the same Greek, has here for varying Greek given the same English three times over. The Rev. Ver. has “the day after,” and thus marks the variation in the original. Miletus had been a most famous sea-port in the earlier Greek history, but in the days of St Paul its fame was eclipsed by Ephesus. It lay on the coast of Caria, some 20 or 30 miles distant by land southward from the city of Ephesus, and one day’s sail from Trogyllium. The site of the town is now some distance from the sea, and was not close to it in the Apostle’s time, as we shall see below (Act_20:38).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (15) We sailed thence . . .—After the usual…
(15) We sailed thence . . .—After the usual manner of the Mediterranean navigation of the time, the ship put into harbour, where it was possible, every evening. Each of the stations named—Lesbos, Chios, Samos—has legendary and historical associations of its own, full of interest for the classical student; but these, we may well believe—the revolt of Mitylene in the Peloponnesian War (Thuc. Book iii.), the brilliant tyranny of Polycrates at Samos (Herod. iii. 39-56), even “the blind old man of Scio’s rocky isle”—were nothing to the Apostle and his companions. Trogyllium, the last station named before Miletus, was a promontory on the mainland, forming the extremity of the ridge of Mycale, and separated from Samos by a narrow channel of about a mile in width. Miletus, famous for its dyes and woollen manufactures, memorable in its earlier history for the disastrous issue of its revolt against Persia (Herod. v. 28-36), was practically the port of Ephesus, the harbour of which had been gradually choked by the accumulation of silted-up sand.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Sailing from for we sailed, A.V.; we came for…
Sailing from for we sailed, A.V.; we came for and came, A.V; following for next, A.V.; touched for arrived, A.V.; and the day after for and tarried at Trogyllium ; and the next day, A.V. and T.R. Over against Chios. Their course would lie through the narrow strait between Chios on the west and the mainland on the east. Samos. The large island opposite Ephesus. There they touched, or put in (parebalomen). If the clause in the T.R. is genuine, they did not pass the night at Samos, but "made a short run from thence in the evening to Trogyllium (Alford), "the rocky extremity of the ridge of Mycale, on the Ionian coast, between which and the southern extremity of Samos the channel is barely a mile wide" ("Speaker"s Commentary"). We came to Miletus. Anciently the chief city of Ionia, and a most powerful maritime and commercial place, about twenty-eight miles south of Ephesus; though in the time of Homer it was a Carian city. In St. Paul"s time it was situated on the south-west coast of the Latmian gulf, just opposite the mouth of the Meander on the east. But since his time the whole gulf of Latmos has been filled up with soil brought down by the river, so that Miletus is no longer on the seacoast, and the new mouth of the Meander is to the west instead of to the east of Miletus, which lies about eight miles inland (Lewin, vol. it. p. 90; Smith"s "Dict. of Geog."). Miletus was the scat of a bishopric in after times. As regards this visit to Miletus, some identify it with that mentioned in 2Ti_4:20. And it is certainly remarkable that so many of the same persons in connection with the same places are mentioned in both passages and in the pastoral Epistles generally. The identical persons are Paul, Timothy, Luke, Trophimus, Tychicus, and Apollos; (Act_20:4, Act_20:5, compared with 2Ti_4:11, 2Ti_4:12, 2Ti_4:20) and the identical places are Corinth, Thessalonica, Troas, Ephesus, Miletus, and Crete. But the other circumstances do not agree well with the events of this journey, but seem to belong to a later period of St. Paul"s life (see below, ver. 25, note).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain See notes on verse 14
See notes on verse 14
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Here the word "we" refers to Paul, the writer, and those traveling with them, but not to the reader. (See: Exclusive and Inclusive "We")
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opposite the island
"near the island" or "across from the island"
the island of Chios
Chios is an island off the coast of modern day Turkey in the Aegean Sea. (See: How to Translate Names)
we touched at the island of Samos
"we arrived at the island of Samos"
island of Samos
Samos is an island south of Chios in the Aegean Sea off the coast of modern day Turkey. (See: How to Translate Names)
the city of Miletus
Miletus was a port city in western Asia Minor near the mouth of the Meander River. (See: How to Translate Names)
For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus
Paul sailed south past the port city of Ephesus, further south in order to land at Miletus. (See: How to Translate Names)
so that he would not spend any time
This speaks about "time" as if it were a commodity that a person could spend or use up. AT: "so that he would not have to remain for a time" or "so that he would not have a delay" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
Paul
Ephesus
Asia
Jerusalem
Pentecost
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.