the he (she or it) · demonstrative pronoun — nominative plural masculine
before
προελθόντεςproelthontes
G4281
to go onward · verb — second aorist active participle, nominative plural masculine
tarried
ἔμενονemenon
G3306
to stay (in a given place · verb — imperfect active indicative, 3rd person plural
us
ἡμᾶςhēmâs
G2248
us
at
ἐνen
G1722
"in · preposition
Troas
Τρῳάδι·Trōadi
G5174
the Troad (or plain of Troy) · noun — dative singular feminine, a place
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Acts 16:8 And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas.
Acts 16:10-11 And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to pr…
2 Corinthians 2:12 Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord,
2 Timothy 4:13 The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.
Acts 20:6-8 And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days.
Acts 20:13-15 And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there intending to take in Paul: for so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Acts 20:1-6
These travels of Paul which are thus briefly related, if all in them had been recorded that was memorable and worthy to be written in letters of gold, the world would not contain the books that would have been written; and therefore we have only some general hints of occurrences, which therefore ought to be the more precious. Here is,
I. Paul's departure from Ephesus. He had tarried there longer than he had done at any one place since he had been ordained to the apostleship of the Gentiles; and now it was time to think of removing, for he must preach in other cities also; but after this, to the end of the scripture-history of his life (which is all we can depend upon), we never find him brea…
These going before--perhaps to announce and prepare for the apostle's coming.
tarried for us at Troas.
Adam Clarke on Acts 20:5
Tarried for us at Troas - See the preceding verse. Troas was a small town in Phrygia Minor, in the province called the Troad: see Act 16:8.
John Gill on Acts 20:5
These going before,.... The apostle into Asia, all but Sopater, who accompanied him:
tarried for us at Troas; a city in Asia Minor; see Acts 16:8 whither they went before hand a nearer way, to provide for the apostle, and where they waited for him, and for Sopater, and for Luke, the writer of this history, who appears from hence to be in company with the apostle, and for as many others as were along with him.
John Calvin on Acts 20:1-6
Acts 20:1-6
1. And after the tumult was ceased, when Paul had called unto him the disciples, and had embraced them, he took his journey that he might go into Macedonia. 2. And when he had walked through those parts, and had with much speech exhorted them, he came into Greece. 3. And when he had spent three months there, when the Jews laid in wait for him as he was about to loose into Syria, he purposed to return through Macedonia. 4. And there accompanied him into Asia Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarebus and Secundus; and Gains of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus. 5. When these were gone before, they stayed for us at Troas. 6. And we sailed away…
The Church Fathers
But that this Luke was inseparable from Paul, and his fellow-labourer in the Gospel, he himself clearly evinces, not as a matter of boasting, but as bound to do so by the truth itself. For he says that when Barnabas, and John who was called Mark, had parted company from Paul, and sailed to Cyprus, "we came to Troas;" and when Paul had beheld in a dream a man of Macedonia, saying, "Come into Macedonia, Paul, and help us," "immediately," he says, "we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, understanding that the Lord had called us to preach the Gospel unto them. Therefore, sailing from Troas, we directed our ship's course towards Samothracia." And then he carefully indicates all the rest of their journey as far as Philippi, and how they delivered their first address: "for, sitting down," he says, "we spake unto the women who had assembled;" and certain believed, even a great many. And again does he say, "But we sailed from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came to Troas, where we abode seven days." And all the remaining [details] of his course with Paul he recounts, indicating with all diligence both places, and cities, and number of days, until they went up to Jerusalem; and what befell Paul there, how he was sent to Rome in bonds; the name of the centurion who took him in charge; and the signs of the ships, and how they made shipwreck; and the island upon which they escaped, and how they received kindness there, Paul healing the chief man of that island; and how they sailed from thence to Puteoli, and from that arrived at Rome; and for what period they sojourned at Rome. As Luke was present at all these occurrences, he carefully noted them down in writing, so that he cannot be convicted of falsehood or boastfulness, because all these [particulars] proved both that he was senior to all those who now teach otherwise, and that he was not ignorant of the truth.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Luke — The evangelist, was a Gentile. The date and circumstances of his conversion are unknown. According to his own statement (Luke 1:2), he was not an “eye-witness and minister of the word from the…
Sabbath — (Heb. verb shabbath, meaning “to rest from labour”), the day of rest. It is first mentioned as having been instituted in Paradise, when man was in innocence (Gen. 2:2). “The sabbath was made for…
Sopater — The father who saves, probably the same as Sosipater, a kinsman of Paul (Rom. 16:21), a Christian of the city of Berea who accompanied Paul into Asia (Acts 20:4-6).
Timothy — Honouring God, a young disciple who was Paul’s companion in many of his journeyings. His mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, are mentioned as eminent for their piety (2 Tim. 1:5). We know…
Troas — A city on the coast of Mysia, in the north-west of Asia Minor, named after ancient Troy, which was at some little distance from it (about 4 miles) to the north. Here Paul, on his second missionary…
Luke · Accompanies Paul in his tour of Asia and Macedonia — Accompanies Paul in his tour of Asia and Macedonia
Macedonia · Revisits — Revisits
Philippi · (A city of Macedonia) -Paul preaches in — (A city of Macedonia) -Paul preaches in
Secundus · Accompanies Paul from Corinth — Accompanies Paul from Corinth
Troas · Paul visits — Paul visits
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
This is another of the “we” passages in Acts (see study note on 16:10). Luke apparently rejoined Paul at Philippi, where Luke had remained several years earlier, and journeyed with Paul to Jerusalem (21:1-18).
