🌊WEB · Acts 20:15
What does Acts 20:15 mean?
"Sailing from there, we came the following day opposite Chios. The next day we touched at Samos and stayed at Trogyllium, and the day after we came to Miletus."
— Acts 20:15 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
They brought the boy in alive, and were greatly comforted.
But we, going ahead to the ship, set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there; for he had so arranged, intending himself to go by land.
When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard, and came to Mitylene.
Sailing from there, we came the following day opposite Chios. The next day we touched at Samos and stayed at Trogyllium, and the day after we came to Miletus.
For Paul had determined to sail past Ephesus, that he might not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hastening, if it were possible for him, to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.
From Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to himself the elders of the assembly.
When they had come to him, he said to them, “You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you all the time,
Explanation
Acts 20:15 records a simple travel log: Paul and his companions sailed by ship, passing opposite the island of Chios on one day, touching at the island of Samos and stopping overnight at Trogyllium the next day, and arriving at Miletus, a port city on the coast of Asia Minor, the day after that. On its surface, this verse is nothing more than a geographical record of a sea voyage, noting the islands and ports passed along the way as Paul made his way toward Jerusalem.
The context is Paul's third missionary journey, drawing to its close. Luke, the author of Acts, was a traveling companion of Paul during this portion of the journey, which is evident from the "we" language used throughout this section (often called one of the "we passages" in Acts, where Luke shifts from third-person narration to firsthand testimony). Paul was hurrying toward Jerusalem, hoping if possible to arrive by the Day of Pentecost (Acts 20:16), so this stretch of the journey involved careful, sometimes rapid movement along the coastline of what is now western Turkey, using local ships that made short island-hopping voyages rather than a single direct sailing route. Miletus was significant because it was near Ephesus, and from there Paul would soon send for the elders of the Ephesian church to meet him, since he did not have time to vis
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