When we had come in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left hand, we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, for the ship was there to unload her cargo.
Parallel Translations
-
When we had come in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left hand, we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, for the ship was there to unload her cargo.
-
Then appered vnto vs Cyprus and we lefte it on the lefte honde and sayled vnto Syria and came vnto Tyre. For there the shyppe vnladed her burthen.
-
And whe we had discouered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand, and sailed toward Syria, and arriued at Tyrus: for there the ship vnladed ye burden.
Cross-references (20)
Passages linked to Acts 21:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Matthew 4:24 The report about him went out into all Syria. They brought to him all who were sick, afflicted with various diseases and torments, possessed with demons, epileptics, and paralytics; and he healed them.
- Acts 4:36 Joses, who by the apostles was also called Barnabas (which is, being interpreted, Son of Encouragement), a Levite, a man of Cyprus by race,
- Acts 12:20 Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. They came with one accord to him, and, having made Blastus, the king’s personal aide, their friend, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king’s country for food.
- Acts 21:16 Some of the disciples from Caesarea also went with us, bringing one Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we would stay.
- Acts 27:4 Putting to sea from there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.
- Judges 10:6 The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and served the Baals, the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. They abandoned Yahweh, and didn’t serve him.
- 2 Samuel 8:6 Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought tribute. Yahweh gave victory to David wherever he went.
- Psalms 45:12 The daughter of Tyre comes with a gift. The rich among the people entreat your favor.
- Psalms 87:4 I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me. Behold, Philistia, Tyre, and also Ethiopia: “This one was born there.”
- Isaiah 7:2 David’s house was told, “Syria is allied with Ephraim.” His heart trembled, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind.
- Isaiah 23:17-18 It will happen after the end of seventy years that Yahweh will visit Tyre. She will return to her wages, and will play the prostitute with all the kingdoms of the world on the surface of the earth. Her merchandise and her wages will be holiness to Yahweh. It will not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise will be for those who dwell before Yahweh, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.
- Matthew 11:21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
- Luke 2:2 This was the first enrollment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
- Luke 10:13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
- Acts 11:19 They therefore who were scattered abroad by the oppression that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews only.
- Acts 13:4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia. From there they sailed to Cyprus.
- Acts 15:23 They wrote these things by their hand: “The apostles, the elders, and the brothers, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: greetings.
- Acts 15:39 Then the contention grew so sharp that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus,
- Acts 15:41 He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the assemblies.
- Acts 18:18 Paul, having stayed after this many more days, took his leave of the brothers, and sailed from there for Syria, together with Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head in Cenchreae, for he had a vow.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 3 Now when we had discovered Cyprus, we left…
3 Now when we had discovered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand, and sailed into Syria, and landed at Tyre: for there the ship was to unlade her burden.
Ver. 3. Now when he had discovered Cyprus] Vox nautica, a mariner’s term; so is συνεσταλμενος, 1Co 7:29. St Paul was a great trader of Christ both by land and sea; and had terms ready for both. {See Trapp on "1Co 7:29"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Cyprus; another island in the Mediterranean.
Cyprus; another island in the Mediterranean.
Unlade her burden; of goods and merchandise which she had taken in at Ephesus.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain The divine providence is not more signally discovered in…
The divine providence is not more signally discovered in governing the motions of the clouds, than it is in ordering the spirits and motions of his ministers. The motion of the clouds is not spontaneous and from themselves, but they move as they are moved by the wind; neither can the ministers of Christ choose their own stations, and govern their own motions, but must go when and whither the Spirit and providence of God directs and guides them; as evidently appears by St. Paul’s present voyage to Jerusalem; though the journey was full of danger, yet his spirit was fully bent and set upon it: I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem.
It was happy for the apostle, and his great advantage, that the will of God was so plainly revealed to him, touching this his journey to Jerusalem; for no sooner did he prepare himself to obey the call of God, and to undertake the journey, but he is presently assaulted by many strong temptations to decline it. The first rub he met with in his way, was from the disciples at Tyre, who spake by the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem.
Read full note →
But did not the Spirit of God then contradict itself, in bidding the apostle go, and then speaking to him by those disciples not to go?
Not at all; St. Paul by extraordinary revelation was commanded to go to Jerusalem; these disciples by a spirit of prophecy, only foretold the difficulties and dangers that would attend him in his journey, and so, through kindness and human affection, they dissuaded him from undertaking it.
We must distinguish between the prediction of trouble, and the counsel of safety.
The prediction of trouble; so they said through the Spirit, that it would be dangerous for Paul to go to Jerusalem.
The counsel of safety proceeded from their private love and affection to him; whereby they dissuaded him from going to Jerusalem.
Learn from hence, 1. That divine precept, and not providence, is to rule our way to duty.
Learn, 2. That no discouragements or hindrances whatsoever will justify our neglect of a commanded duty. Whatever difficulties or discouragements lay in the way of the apostle’s duty, he overcame them all with an heroic and truly Christian resolution, saying, ver. 13. I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem, for the name of Jesus.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Now when we had discovered Cyprus,.... An island, as…
Now when we had discovered Cyprus,.... An island, as the Syriac version here calls it, which lay between Syria and Cilicia; See Gill on Act 4:36; and was, according to R. Benjamin (l), four days sail from Rhodes, before mentioned:
we left it on the left hand, and sailed into Syria; that part of it called Phoenicia:
Read full note →
and landed at Tyre; the chief city of Phoenicia, famous for navigation and commerce: it stood about four furlongs distant from the shore, and was joined to the continent by Alexander the great (m). The account Jerom (n) gives of it is this,
"Tyre, the metropolis of Phoenicia, in the tribe of Nephthalim, is near twenty miles from Caesarea Philippi; this was formerly an island, but made continent land by Alexander:--its chief excellency lies in shell fish and purple.''
It was a very ancient city, though it seems not so ancient as Sidon, from whence it was distant about two hundred furlongs. Herodotus (o) says, that in his time it had been inhabited two thousand three hundred years; Hiram was king of it in Solomon's time; yea, mention is made of it in Joshua's time, if the text in Jos 19:29 is rightly translated: some say it was built seventy six years before the destruction of Troy. It is to be distinguished into old Tyre, which was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and the island of Tyre, which was conquered by Alexander, and new Tyre annexed, by him to the continent. In the Hebrew language it is called "Tzur", or "Tzor", which signifies a "rock", being built on one; though some think it has its name from "Tzehor", which signifies "brightness"; it is now called Sur or Suri, and is quite desolate, being only a receptacle of thieves and robbers: though R. Benjamin says, in his time, new Tyre was a very good city, and had a port within it, into which ships go between two towers; and that there were in it four hundred Jews, and some of them skilful in the Talmud; --who further observes, that if anyone ascended the walls of new Tyre, he might see Tyre the crowning city, Isa 23:8 which was a stone's cast from the new; but if a man would go in a boat on the sea, he might see towers, streets, and palaces in the bottom (p):
for there the ship was to unlade her burden; which she had taken in, in the ports where she had been, but where is not certain; for that she had been at Ephesus, and took in her lading there, as Grotius thinks, does not appear; since this was not the ship the apostle and his company sailed in from Miletus, but which they went aboard at Patara, Act 21:1.
(l) Itinerar. p. 30. (m) Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 19. Mela, l. 1. c. 12. (n) De locis Hebraicis, fol. 96. K. (o) Euterpe, l. 2. c. 44. (p) ltinerar. p. 35, 36.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain We landed at Tyre - That there should be…
We landed at Tyre - That there should be Christians there was foretold, Psalm lxxxvii, 4. What we read in that Psalm of the Philistines and Ethiopians also may be compared with chap. viii, 40; xxvii, 4.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. Cyprus] See Clarke on Ac 4:36, and…
Verse 3. Cyprus] See Clarke on Ac 4:36, and see the track of this journey on the map.
Tyre] A city of Phoenicia, one of the most celebrated maritime towns in the world. See Clarke on Ac 12:20; and See Clarke on Mt 11:21.
Read full note →
There the ship was to unlade her burden.] The freight that she had taken in at Ephesus she was to unlade at Tyre; to which place she was bound.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Had discovered Cyprus - See the notes on Act…
Had discovered Cyprus - See the notes on Act 4:36.
Into Syria - See the notes on Mat 4:24.
Read full note →
And landed at Tyre - See the notes on Mat 11:21.
To unlade her burden - Her cargo. Tyre was formerly one of the most commercial cities of the world; and it is probable that in the time of Paul its commercial importance had not entirely ceased.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Cyprus, an island in the Mediterranean, to the east…
Cyprus, an island in the Mediterranean, to the east of Patara and Rhodes.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain when we . . . discovered--"sighted," as the phrase…
when we . . . discovered--"sighted," as the phrase is.
Cyprus, we left it on the left hand--that is, steered southeast of it, leaving it on the northwest.
Read full note →
sailed into--"unto"
Syria, and landed at Tyre--the celebrated seat of maritime commerce for East and West. It might be reached from Patara in about two days.
there the ship was to unlade her burden--which gave the apostle time for what follows.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. Cyprus—Through whose length Paul with Barnabas had preached…
3. Cyprus—Through whose length Paul with Barnabas had preached Christianity.
Left hand—From Patara they emerged from all the insular straits and launched “O’er the glad waters of the dark blue sea.” In these fresh days of spring, the snows still lingered on the rounded summits of Cyprus, but the shores were clad in rich verdure. The breeze was evidently fair and strong, and their sail now by night as well as by day, through a voyage of three hundred and forty miles, at a rate a little more than seven knots an hour, would land them on Monday, the thirtieth day of April, at Tyre.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 3. Now when we had discovered Cyprus] Rev. Ver.…
3. Now when we had discovered Cyprus] Rev. Ver. “And when we had come in sight of.” “Discover” has now acquired the special sense of “finding for the first time.” On Cyprus, see notes on Act_13:4 seqq.
we … Syria] This was the general name for the whole district lying along the Mediterranean from Cilicia down to Egypt.
Read full note →
Tyre] One of the chief ports of Phœnicia, and a city of very great antiquity. It was built partly on the mainland and partly on an island, and is often mentioned both in Scripture and in profane literature. It is noticed as a strongly fortified city as early as Jos_19:29. We read of its fame in the time of Solomon in connexion with the building of the temple, and Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, was the daughter of Ethbaal, called King of the Sidonians in Scripture, but in Josephus (Ant. viii. 13, 2) King of Tyre. The city was besieged by Shalmaneser and afterwards by Nebuchadnezzar, and was captured by Alexander the Great.
Christ went on one of his journeys from Galilee into the neighbourhood of Tyre, if not to the city itself, which was about 30 miles from Nazareth, and it must have been then in much the same condition as at this visit of St Paul.
there the ship, &c.] And so most probably the further voyage to Ptolemais was made in a different vessel, this one going no farther.
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 (3) When we had discovered Cyprus . . .—The…
(3) When we had discovered Cyprus . . .—The use of a technical term here is specially characteristic of St. Luke. Here the meaning is that, as soon as they sighted Cyprus, they stood to the southeast, and so had it on their left as they continued their voyage to Syria. At Tyre they had again to change their ship. On the position and history of Tyre, see Note on Mat_11:21.
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 And for when, A.V.; come in sight of for…
And for when, A.V.; come in sight of for discovered, A.V.; leaving it... we sailed for we left it... and sailed, A.V.; unto for into, A.V.. Had come in sight of; literally, had been shown Cyprus; had had Cyprus made visible to us; i.e. had sighted Cyprus. It is a nautical expression. Meyer compares the phrase pepisteumai tolion for the grammatical construction. The verb ajnafainw is peculiar to St. Luke, occur-tug elsewhere in the New Testament only incqhmen, Luk_19:11. It is, however, used repeatedly in the LXX of Job. Landed; kath T.R., just the opposite to the ajnhqhmen of ver. 2; but the R.T. has kathlqomen, with the same meaning, "we came to shore." At Tyre, which they may have reached in about forty-eight hours from Patara with a fair wind (Howson). Tyre at this time was still a city of some commercial importance, with two harbors, one north and one south of the causeway which connected the island with the mainland. (see Act_12:20) Howson thinks the ship in which St. Paul sailed may have brought wheat from the Black Sea, and taken up Phoenician wares in exchange. The sight of Cyprus as he sailed by must have brought many and very various memories to the apostle"s mind, of Barnabas, of Sergius Paulus, of Elymas, and many others.
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 1
See notes on verse 1
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 Luke, Paul, and those traveling with them, but not to the reader. (See: Exclusive and Inclusive "We")
Read full note →
leaving it on the left side of the boat
"passed the island on the left" the left is the "port" side of a boat.
where the ship was to unload its cargo
Here "ship" stands for the crew that was sailing the ship. AT: "the crew would unload the cargo from the ship" (See: Metonymy)
Through the Spirit they kept urging Paul
"These believers told Paul what the Holy Spirit had revealed to them." They "urged him over and over."
translationWords
Cyprus
Syria
Tyre
disciple
day
Paul
Holy Spirit
Jerusalem
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.