Acts 20:13

The Voyage to Miletus

20:13 We went on ahead ¹  to the ship and put out to sea ²  for Assos, ³  intending ⁴  to take Paul aboard there, for he had arranged it this way. ⁵  He ⁶  himself was intending ⁷  to go there by land. ⁸ 

Acts 20:15

20:15 We set sail ⁹  from there, and on the following day we arrived off Chios. ¹⁰  The next day we approached ¹¹  Samos, ¹²  and the day after that we arrived at Miletus. ¹³ 

Acts 27:1

Paul and Company Sail for Rome

27:1 When it was decided we ¹⁴  would sail to Italy, ¹⁵  they handed over Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion ¹⁶  of the Augustan Cohort ¹⁷  named Julius.

Acts 27:13

27:13 When a gentle south wind sprang up, they thought ¹⁸  they could carry out ¹⁹  their purpose, so they weighed anchor ²⁰  and sailed close along the coast ²¹  of Crete.

Acts 27:28

27:28 They took soundings ²²  and found the water was twenty fathoms ²³  deep; when they had sailed a little farther ²⁴  they took soundings again and found it was fifteen fathoms ²⁵  deep.

[20:13]  ¹ tn Grk “going on ahead.” The participle προελθόντες (proelqonte") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[20:13]  ² tn BDAG 62 s.v. ἀνάγω 4, “as a nautical t.t. (ἀ. τὴν ναῦν put a ship to sea), mid. or pass. ἀνάγεσθαι to begin to go by boat, put out to sea.”

[20:13]  ³ sn Assos was a city of Mysia about 24 mi (40 km) southeast of Troas.

[20:13]  ⁴ tn BDAG 628 s.v. μέλλω 1.c.γ has “denoting an intended action: intend, propose, have in mind…Ac 17:31; 20:3, 7, 13ab; 23:15; 26:2; 27:30.”

[20:13]  ⁵ tn Or “for he told us to do this.” Grk “for having arranged it this way, he.” The participle διατεταγμένος (diatetagmeno") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. BDAG 237 s.v. διατάσσω 1 has “οὕτως διατεταγμένος ἦν he had arranged it so Ac 20:13.” L&N 15.224 has “‘he told us to do this.”

[20:13]  ⁶ tn A new sentence was begun here in the translation because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence; in Greek this is part of the preceding sentence beginning “We went on ahead.”

[20:13]  ⁷ tn BDAG 628 s.v. μέλλω 1.c.γ has “denoting an intended action: intend, propose, have in mind…Ac 17:31; 20:3, 7, 13ab; 23:15; 26:2; 27:30.”

[20:13]  ⁸ tn Or “there on foot.”

[20:15]  ⁹ tn Grk “setting sail from there.” The participle ἀποπλεύσαντες (apopleusante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[20:15]  ¹⁰ tn Or “offshore from Chios.”

[20:15]  ¹¹ tn Or “crossed over to,” “arrived at.” L&N 54.12 has “παραβάλλω: (a technical, nautical term) to sail up to or near – ‘to approach, to arrive at, to sail to.’ παρεβάλομεν εἰς Σάμον ‘we approached Samos’ or ‘we arrived at Samos’ Ac 20:15.”

[20:15]  ¹² sn Samos is an island in the Aegean Sea off the western coast of Asia Minor.

[20:15]  ¹³ sn Miletus was a seaport on the western coast of Asia Minor about 40 mi (70 km) south of Ephesus. From Mitylene to Miletus was about 125 mi (200 km).

[27:1]  ¹⁷ sn The last “we” section in Acts begins here and extends to 28:16 (the previous one ended at 21:18).

[27:1]  ¹⁸ sn Sail to Italy. This voyage with its difficulty serves to show how God protected Paul on his long journey to Rome. From the perspective of someone in Palestine, this may well picture “the end of the earth” quite literally (cf. Acts 1:8).

[27:1]  ¹⁹ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[27:1]  ²⁰ tn According to BDAG 917 s.v. σεβαστός, “In σπεῖρα Σεβαστή 27:1 (cp. OGI 421) Σεβαστή is likew. an exact transl. of Lat. Augusta, an honorary title freq. given to auxiliary troops (Ptolem. renders it Σεβαστή in connection w. three legions that bore it: 2, 3, 30; 2, 9, 18; 4, 3, 30) imperial cohort.” According to W. Foerster (TDNT 7:175), “In Ac. 27:1 the σπεῖρα Σεβαστή is an expression also found elsewhere for ‘auxiliary troops.’” In no case would this refer to a special imperial bodyguard, and to translate “imperial regiment” or “imperial cohort” might give this impression. There is some archaeological evidence for a Cohors Augusta I stationed in Syria during the time of Augustus, but whether this is the same unit is very debatable.

[27:13]  ²⁵ tn Grk “thinking.” The participle δόξαντες (doxante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[27:13]  ²⁶ tn Or “accomplish.” L&N 68.29, for κρατέω, has “to be able to complete or finish, presumably despite difficulties – ‘to accomplish, to do successfully, to carry out.’ …‘thinking that they could carry out their purpose’ Ac 27:13.”

[27:13]  ²⁷ tn Or “departed.”

[27:13]  ²⁸ tn L&N 54.8, “παραλέγομαι: (a technical, nautical term) to sail along beside some object – ‘to sail along the coast, to sail along the shore.’…‘they sailed along the coast of Crete’ Ac 27:13.” With the addition of the adverb ἆσσον (asson) this becomes “sailed close along the coast of Crete.”

[27:28]  ³³ tn Grk “Heaving the lead, they found.” The participle βολίσαντες (bolisante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. See also BDAG 180 s.v. βολίζω. Although the term is used twice in this verse (and thus is technically not a NT hapax legomenon), it occurs nowhere else in the NT.

[27:28]  ³⁴ sn A fathom is about 6 feet or just under 2 meters (originally the length of a man’s outstretched arms). This was a nautical technical term for measuring the depth of water. Here it was about 120 ft (36 m).

[27:28]  ³⁵ tn L&N 15.12, “βραχὺ δὲ διαστήσαντες ‘when they had gone a little farther’ Ac 27:28.”

[27:28]  ³⁶ sn Here the depth was about 90 ft (27 m).