Acts 21:5

5 And it happened that when our days were over, we departed [and] went on our way, [while] all [of them] accompanied us, together with [their] wives and children, as far as outside the city. And [after] falling to our knees on the beach [and] praying,

Acts 21:5 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 21:5

And when we had accomplished those days
The seven days before mentioned:

we departed and went our way;
from their quarters where they lodged, or from some one house of the disciples, where they met, and had conversed together:

and they all brought us on our way, with wives and children, till we
were out of the city;
that is, the disciples, even all of them that dwelt in that city, with their whole families, their wives and children, accompanied the apostle and those that were with him, through the streets of the city of Tyre, till they came out of it to the shore, where lay the ship they were to go aboard; and which was a mark of their affection and respect to the apostle, as well as a token of their public spirit, that they were not ashamed of Christ and his ministers, nor of their profession of the Gospel:

and we kneeled down on the shore and prayed;
which was agreeably to the custom of the Jews, who had, as Tertullian observes ^F23, their "orationes litterales", their prayers at the sea shore; (See Gill on Acts 16:13).

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 Ad nationes, l. 1. c. 13.

Acts 21:5 In-Context

3 And [after we] sighted Cyprus and left it behind {on the port side}, we sailed to Syria and arrived at Tyre, because the ship was to unload [its] cargo there.

4 And we stayed there seven days [after we] found the disciples, who kept telling Paul through the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem.

5 And it happened that when our days were over, we departed [and] went on our way, [while] all [of them] accompanied us, together with [their] wives and children, as far as outside the city. And [after] falling to our knees on the beach [and] praying,

6 we said farewell to one another and embarked in the ship, and they returned to their own [homes].

7 And [when] we had completed the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais. And [after we] greeted the brothers, we stayed one day with them.

Footnotes

• [a]. *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("departed") has been translated as a finite verb
• [b]. *Here "[while]" is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle ("accompanied")
• [c]. *The word "[their]" is not in the Greek text but is implied
• [d]. *Here "[after]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("falling to") which is understood as temporal
• [e]. *Here "and" is supplied to join this and the previous participle ("falling to") in keeping with English style