Acts 20:14
in Acts 20And when he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And when he met us at Assos, we took him in, and came to Mitylene.
KJV
And when he met with us at Assos, we took him in, and came to Mitylene.
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This verse in Acts 20
Commentary
8 notes on this verseWith him we came to Mytilene. We have written in the first book, following Pliny the Younger, that Mytilene is an island off Asia; but Pliny elsewhere writes that Mytilene is a city on the island of Cyprus. Both are believed to be true; however, …
This site's exposition
sailed unto Assos
on Acts 20:13-14
The company went ahead by ship to Assos while Paul went by land alone, on foot across the neck of land between Troas and Assos, a route that saved little time and cost him solitude, which Ramsay reads as deliberate, a last quiet stretch before the harder legs of the voyage still ahead. At Assos he came aboard and they sailed on to Mitylene, Luke’s itinerary precise enough that its stops can still be traced on a map of the Aegean coast. The plain, day by day and port by port style of these verses is itself part of the evidence historians of the ancient world have weighed for the book’s eyewitness character.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
Wherefore does the writer say where they came, and where they went to? To show in the first place that he was making the voyage more leisurely-and this upon human grounds-and sailing past (some): also (for the same reason he tells) where he made a stay, and what parts he sailed past...
We often find Paul parting from the disciples. For behold again, he himself goes afoot: giving them the easier way, and himself choosing the more painful. He went afoot, both that he might arrange many matters, and by way of training them to bear a parting from him. "And when he had joined us at Thasos, having taken him on board, we came to Mytilene; and having sailed thence on the morrow, we come over against Chios"-then they pass the island-"and on the next day we touched at Samos, and having stopped at Trogylium, on the following day we came to Miletus."
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And when he met with us at Assos,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Came to Mitylene - This was the capital of the island of Lesbos. It was distinguished by the beauty of its situation, and the splendor and magnificence of its edifices. The island on which it stood, Lesbos, was one of the largest in the Aegean Sea, and the seventh in the Mediterranean. It is a few miles distant from the coast of Aeolia, and is about 168 miles in circumference. The name of the city now is Castro.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
came to Mitylene--the capital of the beautiful and classical island of Lesbos, which lies opposite the eastern shore of the Ægean Sea, about thirty miles south of Assos; in whose harbor they seem to have lain for the night. 15, 16. came the next day over against Chios--now Scio: one of the most beautiful of those islands between which and the coast the sail is so charming.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Came to Mitylene - This was a seaport town in the isle of Lesbos: see its place in the map.
The words behind it
12 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ὡς | hos | When | G5613 → | 500 times |
| δὲ | de | now | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| συνέβαλλεν | suneballen | he was meeting with | G4820 → | 6 times |
| ἡμῖν | hemin | us | G3165 → | 1936 times |
| εἰς | eis | at | G1519 → | 1755 times |
| τὴν | ten | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| Ἆσσον, | asson | Assos, | G789 → | |
| ἀναλαβόντες | analabontes | having taken in | G353 → | 12 times |
| αὐτὸν | auton | him | G846 → | 5565 times |
| ἤλθομεν | elthomen | we came | G2064 → | 628 times |
| εἰς | eis | to | G1519 → | 1755 times |
| Μιτυλήνην· | mitulenen | Mitylene; | G3412 → |
ὡςWhen
hosG5613 →500 times
δὲnow
deG1161 →2765 times
συνέβαλλενhe was meeting with
suneballenG4820 →6 times
ἡμῖνus
heminG3165 →1936 times
εἰςat
eisG1519 →1755 times
τὴν<the>
tenG3588 →19766 times
Ἆσσον,Assos,
assonG789 →
ἀναλαβόντεςhaving taken in
analabontesG353 →12 times
αὐτὸνhim
autonG846 →5565 times
ἤλθομενwe came
elthomenG2064 →628 times
εἰςto
eisG1519 →1755 times
Μιτυλήνην·Mitylene;
mitulenenG3412 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Acts
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Retractions on Acts; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 43; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and William Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen.