Acts 21:3 - Exposition

And for when, A.V.; come in sight of for discovered, A.V.; leaving it … we sailed for we left it … and sailed, A.V. ; unto for into, A.V. Had come in sight of ; literally, had been shown Cyprus; had had Cyprus made visible to us; i.e. had sighted Cyprus. It is a nautical expression. Meyer compares the phrase πεπίστευμαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον for the grammatical construction. The verb ἀναφαίνω is peculiar to St. Luke, occur-tug elsewhere in the New Testament only in Luke 19:11 . It is, however, used repeatedly in the LXX . of Job. Landed ; κατήχθημεν , T.R., just the opposite to the ἀνήθημεν of verse 2; but the R.T. has κατήλθομεν , with the same meaning, "we came to shore." At Tyre , which they may have reached in about forty-eight hours from Patara with a fair wind (Howson). Tyre at this time was still a city of some commercial importance, with two harbors, one north and one south of the causeway which connected the island with the mainland (see Acts 12:20 ). Howson thinks the ship in which St. Paul sailed may have brought wheat from the Black Sea, and taken up Phoenician wares in exchange. The sight of Cyprus as he sailed by must have brought many and very various memories to the apostle's mind, of Barnabas, of Sergius Paulus, of Elymas, and many others.