Acts 21:5

But when our time there had ended, we set out on our journey. All the disciples, with their wives and children, accompanied us out of the city and knelt down on the beach to pray with us.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The narrator records Paul and his traveling companions preparing to depart Tyre after a seven-day stay. Local disciples, accompanied by their wives and children, walk with them out of the city to the shoreline.

The words — The text uses ἐξαρτῶσαι (exartōsai) to denote "completing" or "finishing" the allotted days, marking the precise end of the visit. It employs ἐξελθόντες (exelthontes), a participle meaning "having set out," to describe the physical departure of the group.

The thread — The account of kneeling to pray at a journey's end parallels the farewell prayer in Acts 20:36 and the communal kneeling in Acts 9:40. The beachside posture corresponds to the worship posture prescribed in Psalm 95:6.

Why it lands — The text states that the group knelt on the beach to pray before boarding the ship. It requires the reader to acknowledge that faithful departure involves communal prayer and submission to spiritual warning rather than solitary resolve.

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

And when we had accomplished those days, we departed and went our way; and they all brought us on our way, with wives and children, till we were out of the city: and we kneeled down on the shore, and prayed.

Cross-references

Acts 20:36 When Paul had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed.
Acts 9:40 Then Peter sent them all out of the room. He knelt down and prayed, and turning toward her body, he said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up.
Psalms 95:6 O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.
Acts 15:3 Sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, recounting the conversion of the Gentiles and bringing great joy to all the brothers.
Acts 20:38 They were especially grieved by his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.
Deuteronomy 29:11 your children and wives, and the foreigners in your camps who cut your wood and draw your water—
1 Kings 8:54 Now when Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and petition to the LORD, he got up before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven.
2 Chronicles 20:13 Meanwhile all the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, were standing before the LORD.
Matthew 14:21 About five thousand men were fed, besides women and children.
Mark 1:40 Then a leper came to Jesus, begging on his knees: “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”