Acts 21:1 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Acts 21:1
And it came to pass, that after we were gotten from them, and had launched, we came with a straight course unto Coos, and the day following unto Rhodes, and from thence unto Patara:
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive plural masculine
launched
ἀναχθῆναιanachthēnai
G321
to lead up · verb — aorist passive infinitive
came
ἤλθομενēlthomen
G2064
to come or go (in a great variety of applications · verb — second aorist active indicative, 1st person plural
course
εὐθυδρομήσαντεςeuthudromēsantes
G2113
to lay a straight course · verb — aorist active participle, nominative plural masculine
unto
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
Coos
Κῶ,Kō
G2972
Cos · noun — accusative singular feminine, a place
and
δὲde
G1161
but · conjunction
the
ἑξῆςhexēs
G1836
successive · adverb
following
ἑξῆςhexēs
G1836
successive
unto
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
Rhodes
Ῥόδον,Rhodon
G4499
Rhodus · noun — accusative singular feminine, a place
thence
κἀκεῖθενkakeîthen
G2547
likewise from that place (or time)
unto
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
Patara
Πάταρα.Patara
G3959
Patara · noun — accusative plural neuter, 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
1 Thessalonians 2:17 But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with gre…
Luke 5:4 Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.
1 Samuel 20:41-42 And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three ti…
Luke 8:22 Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side…
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…
Acts 20:37-38 And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul’s neck, and kissed him,
Acts 27:2 And entering into a ship of Adramyttium, we launched, meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia; one Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica,…
Acts 27:4 And when we had launched from thence, we sailed under Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Acts 21:1-7
We may observe here,
I. How much ado Paul had to get clear from Ephesus, intimated in the first words of the chapter, after we had gotten from them, that is, were drawn from them as by violence. It was a force put upon both sides; Paul was loth to leave them, and they were loth to part with him, and yet there was no remedy, but so it must be. When good people are taken away by death, they are, as it were, gotten from their friends here below, who struggled hard to have detained them if possible.
II. What a prosperous voyage they had thence. Without any difficulty, they came with a straight course, by direct sailing, to Coos, a famous Grecian island, - the next day to Rhodes, talked of for th…
Came with a straight course - Having had, as is necessarily implied, wind and tide in their favor.
Coos - An island in the Archipelago, or Aegean Sea, one of those called the Sporades. It was famous for the worship of Aesculapius and Juno; and for being the birthplace of Hippocrates, the most eminent of physicians, and Apelles, the most celebrated of painters.
Rhodes - Another island in the same sea, celebrated for its Colossus, which was one of the seven wonders of the world. This was a brazen statue of Apollo, so high that ships in full sail could pass between its legs. It was the work of Chares, a pupil of Lysippus, who spent twelve years in making it. It was 106 feet high, and so great t…
And it came to pass, that after we had gotten from them,.... Which was with great difficulty, with many tears, and much wringing of hands: the word signifies that they were "plucked from" them; they clung about them, as husband and wife, and parents and children do; so strong were their affections; and their parting was like the parting of such near relations, or like the plucking of the flesh from the bones, or the drawing and separating one member from another; such is the cement of true Christian love:
and had launched; the vessel into the sea, from the port at Miletus:
we came with a straight course unto Coos; an island in the Aegean sea. Pomponius Mela (m) calls it Cos in Carlo; and s…
The Church Fathers
"And they accompanied them," it says, "unto the ship. And it came to pass, that after we had torn ourselves from them" - so much did they love him, such was their affection towards him - "and had launched, we came with a straight course unto Coos, and the day following unto Rhodes, and from thence unto Patara." Methinks Paul also wept. "Having torn ourselves away," he says: he shows the violence of it by saying, "having torn ourselves away from them." And with reason: otherwise they could never have got to sea. What means, "We came with a straight course unto Coos?" Instead of saying, "we did not go round nor make stay in other places." See how he hastes on.
"And when it came to pass that, being parted from them, we set sail, we came with a straight course to Coos." Then, as though violently parted from them, they came to Coos; and moving on to Rhodes and Patara, passing through Phenice and Cyprus, they came all the way to Tyre. Having found some disciples there, Paul stayed with them for seven days. Warned by the power of foreknowledge, they said to Paul that he should not hasten to go up to Jerusalem, as a grievous storm awaited him there. Having said a prayer and taken leave, they came from there to Ptolemais, and then to Caesarea, where Paul entered the house of Philip the preacher, who was one of the seven whom the apostles had earlier put in charge of the management of tables. This man had four virgin daughters who prophesized the words of the Lord. While they stayed there, there came from Jerusalem a prophet named Agabus, who, taking Paul's girdle and binding his own feet, said that the man whose girdle it was would soon be bound in that manner by the Jews, and delivered into the hands of the Gentiles. Then the disciples, together with the faithful, asked Paul to avoid the imminent dangers.
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
Cnidus — A town and harbour on the extreme south-west of the peninsula of Doris in Asia Minor. Paul sailed past it on his voyage to Rome after leaving Myra (Acts 27:7).
Coos — (written Cos in the R.V.), a small island, one of the Sporades in the Aegean Sea, in the north-west of Rhodes, off the coast of Caria. Paul on his return from his third missionary journey, passed the…
Cos, Or Coos — (now Stanchio or Stanko). This small island of the Grecian Archipelago has several interesting points of connection with the Jews. Herod the Great conferred many favors on the island. St. Paul, on…
Lycia — A wolf, a province in the south-west of Asia Minor, opposite the island of Rhodes. It forms part of the region now called Tekeh. It was a province of the Roman empire when visited by Paul (Acts 21:1;…
Patara — A city on the south-west coast of Lycia at which Paul landed on his return from his third missionary journey (Acts 21:1, 2). Here he found a larger vessel, which was about to sail across the open sea…
Rhodes — A rose, an island to the south of the western extremity of Asia Minor, between Coos and Patara, about 46 miles long and 18 miles broad. Here the apostle probably landed on his way from Greece to…
Coos · An island, Paul visits, in the Mediterranean — An island, Paul visits, in the Mediterranean
Luke · To — To
Patara · Visited by Paul — Visited by Paul
Rhodes · An island visited by Paul — An island visited by Paul
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).
Acts 21:1-6
1. And when it came to pass that we had loosed, being pulled away from them, we came with a straight course to Coos, and the next day to the Rhodes, and thence to Patara; 2. And when we had gotten a ship, which sailed over to Phenicia, when we were entered into it, we launched. 3. And when Cyprus began to appear to us, leaving it on the left hand, we sailed into Syria, and came to Tyrus: for here the ship did unlade her burden. 4. And when we had found disciples, we stayed there seven days; who said to Paul by the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem. 5. And when the days were ended, we departed and went our way; and they all, with their wives and children, accompanied…
This “we” passage (see study notes on 16:10; 20:5-15) covers Paul’s journey from Miletus to Jerusalem at the close of the third missionary journey.
21:1 Cos was an island in the Aegean Sea with a major trade port. • Rhodes is a large Aegean island that featured the Colossus, a huge statue 100 feet (30 meters) tall that once stood at the entrance to the city. In Paul’s time, the statue lay where it had fallen during an earthquake over 200 years earlier; it would not be removed for another 600 years. • Patara was the major port of Lycia, located on the coast opposite Rhodes.
