Acts 21:3 - Printer Friendly

ESV: When we had come in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload its cargo.

NIV: After sighting Cyprus and passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria. We landed at Tyre, where our ship was to unload its cargo.

NASB: When we came in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left, we kept sailing to Syria and landed at Tyre; for the ship was to unload its cargo there.

CSB: After we sighted Cyprus, passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria and arrived at Tyre, since the ship was to unload its cargo there.

NLT: We sighted the island of Cyprus, passed it on our left, and landed at the harbor of Tyre, in Syria, where the ship was to unload its cargo.

KJV: 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.

NKJV: When we had sighted Cyprus, we passed it on the left, sailed to Syria, and landed at Tyre; for there the ship was to unload her cargo.

Many issues in the Bible inspire modern people to wish for more information. Given our current perspective, we'd prefer the authors had been more specific on certain points. Some points are theological and have inspired debate among teachers and scholars for two thousand years. Luke, as it happens, seems interested in making sure there is never any doubt…about the route a ship takes while he is onboard.

Luke, Paul, and a group of others (Acts 20:4) sail from Miletus, on the southwest coast of modern-day Turkey, to Caesarea Maritima, on the Judaean coast. They have already weaved around the islands of Cos and Rhodes and changed ships in the city of Patara. The original ship may have been a smaller vessel that didn't sail far from shore; they need a larger sea-fairing ship to cross the open water to Phoenicia (Acts 21:1–2).

From Patara, they sail along the southern shore of the island of Cyprus. Paul has not returned there since he and Barnabas released the proconsul of Cyprus from the influence of a Jewish magician. This was during the first stop of their first missionary journey (Acts 13:4–12). Barnabas is from Cyprus (Acts 4:36), and when the two fell out over John Mark's involvement in their second trip, Paul and Silas traveled north to modern-day Turkey while Barnabas and Mark sailed to Cyprus (Acts 15:36–41). Still, Paul doesn't stop; he wants to make Jerusalem by Pentecost (Acts 20:16).

Phoenicia is the district on the southern shore of Syria; today its borders would encompass western Lebanon as well as southwest Syria and northwest Israel. Tyre is the same city mentioned in the Old Testament; the king of Tyre once gave David supplies for his palace (2 Samuel 5:11). It was in Tyre and its sister-city Sidon that Jesus met the Syrophoenician woman with the humble faith (Mark 7:24–30).

In the Old Testament, Tyre was a major port consisting of a large city on the mainland as well as a heavily defensible island city. In 332 BC, Alexander the Great easily conquered the mainland city but could not breach the island. He eventually carried the rubble from the mainland and built a causeway to the island his army could march over. Today, the causeway is expanded to the point the once-island is a peninsula.

Acts 21:1–6 describes how Paul and his companions finally start their way back to Judea. They sail from Miletus on the southwest coast of modern-day Turkey around the islands to Tyre in Phoenicia. Whether because the Holy Spirit informs them or Paul tells them, the Jesus-followers there realize Paul faces arrest in Jerusalem. Not understanding God's purpose, they try to protect their friend by begging him not to go. When Paul insists, they pray for him and send him on his way.

In Acts 21, Paul returns to Judea from his third missionary journey and promptly gets arrested. He begins by visiting Philip in Caesarea Maritima. Church elders in Jerusalem ask Paul to help men fulfill a Nazirite vow, to dispel rumors he has apostatized his Jewishness. While doing so, Ephesian Jews accuse Paul of bringing one of his Gentile Ephesian companions into the temple. The Roman military tribune keeps the enraged crowd from tearing Paul limb from limb by arresting him.

Acts 21 fulfills the fears of many of Paul's friends. Throughout the last part of his third missionary journey the Holy Spirit has been telling him he will be arrested in Jerusalem (Acts 20:23–25). When Paul reacts to dire personal prophecy, the Jesus-followers in Caesarea Maritima try to stop him from going on (Acts 21:8–14). Through a complicated trail of rumors, lies, and wrong assumptions, things go according to the Holy Spirit's foreknowledge and Roman soldiers arrest Paul. He will face the next 5 years in custody in Caesarea and Rome, but he will spread Jesus' story the entire time (Acts 22—28).

The summary of the book of Acts is provided in Jesus' words in Acts 1:8: ''But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'' In Acts 2:1–13, the Christ-followers receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:14—7:60 describes the rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem. Chapters 8—12 find Jewish persecution inadvertently spreading the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria. And in chapters 13—28, Paul and his companions spread the good news throughout the Roman Empire.