Bible Strands
Acts 21:3
After sighting Cyprus and passing south of it, we sailed on to Syria and landed at Tyre, where the ship was to unload its cargo.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator records Paul’s party boarding a vessel bound for Phoenicia and describes their immediate maritime route. The account captures the moment the ship departs the coast and approaches the eastern Mediterranean ports.
The words — ἀναφάναντες (anaphanantes) means "having sighted," and καταλιπόντες (katalipontes) translates to "having left." These aorist participles establish the sequential geography of the voyage past Cyprus.
The thread — The route connects Cyprus, Syria, and Tyre, locations previously identified in Acts 4:36 as Barnabas’s origin and Acts 12:20 as the site of political tension. Matthew 4:24 further anchors Syria as a region where Jesus’ reputation had already spread.
Why it lands — The text states the ship’s commercial destination at Tyre before detailing Paul’s subsequent seven-day stay. It requires readers to note how the apostolic journey follows established maritime logistics rather than isolated spiritual routes.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Matthew 4:24 News about Him spread all over Syria, and people brought to Him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering acute pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and He healed them.
- Acts 4:36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (meaning Son of Encouragement),
- Acts 12:20 Now Herod was in a furious dispute with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they convened before him. Having secured the support of Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their region depended on the king’s country for food.
- Acts 21:16 Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us, and they took us to stay at the home of Mnason the Cypriot, an early disciple.
- Acts 27:4 After putting out from there, we sailed to the lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us.
- Judges 10:6 And again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. They served the Baals, the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and Philistines. Thus they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him.
- 2 Samuel 8:6 Then he placed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became subject to David and brought him tribute. So the LORD made David victorious wherever he went.
- Psalms 45:12 The Daughter of Tyre will come with a gift; men of wealth will seek your favor.
- Psalms 87:4 “I will mention Rahab and Babylon among those who know Me—along with Philistia, Tyre, and Cush—when I say, ‘This one was born in Zion.’”
- Isaiah 7:2 When it was reported to the house of David that Aram was in league with Ephraim, the hearts of Ahaz and his people trembled like trees in the forest shaken by the wind.