Acts 28:11

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
After three months we set sail in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered at the island, with the Twin Gods as its figurehead.

King James Version (1611)
And after three moneths wee departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the Ile, whose signe was Castor and Pollux.

King James Version
And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux.

English Standard Version
After three months we set sail in a ship that had wintered in the island, a ship of Alexandria, with the twin gods as a figurehead.

New American Standard Bible
After three months we set sail on an Alexandrian ship which had wintered at the island, and which had the Twin Brothers for its figurehead.

Amplified Bible
At the end of three months we set sail on a ship which had wintered at the island, an Alexandrian ship with the Twin Brothers [Castor and Pollux] as its figurehead.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
At the end of three months we set sail on an Alexandrian ship which had wintered at the island, and which had the Twin Brothers for its figurehead.

Legacy Standard Bible
Now at the end of three months we set sail on an Alexandrian ship which had wintered at the island, and which had the Twin Brothers for its figurehead.

Berean Standard Bible
After three months we set sail in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered in the island. It had the Twin Brothers as a figurehead.

Contemporary English Version
Three months later we sailed in a ship that had been docked at Malta for the winter. The ship was from Alexandria in Egypt and was known as "The Twin Gods."

Complete Jewish Bible
After three months, we sailed away on a ship from Alexandria called "Twin Gods," which had passed the winter at the island.

Darby Translation
And after three months we sailed in a ship which had wintered in the island, an Alexandrian, with [the] Dioscuri for its ensign.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Nowe after three moneths we departed in a shippe of Alexandria, which had wintred in the Yle, whose badge was Castor and Pollux.

George Lamsa Translation
After three months we departed, sailing in an Al-ex-an''dri-an ship, which had wintered in the island, and which bore the sign of Castor and Pollux.

Good News Translation
After three months we sailed away on a ship from Alexandria, called "The Twin Gods," which had spent the winter in the island.

Lexham English Bible
Now after three months we put out to sea in a ship that had wintered at the island, an Alexandrian one with the twin gods Castor and Pollux as its insignia.

Literal Translation
And after three months we sailed in a ship which had wintered in the island, an Alexandrian with an ensign, Twin Brothers.

American Standard Version
And after three months we set sail in a ship of Alexandria which had wintered in the island, whose sign was The Twin Brothers.

Bible in Basic English
And after three months we went to sea in a ship of Alexandria sailing under the sign of the Dioscuri, which had been at the island for the winter.

Hebrew Names Version
After three months, we set sail in a ship of Alexandria which had wintered in the island, whose sign was "The Twin Brothers."

International Standard Version
Three months later, we sailed on an Alexandrian ship that had spent the winter at the island. It had the Twin Brothers as its figurehead.

Etheridge Translation
But we went forth after three months and voyaged in an Alexandrine ship which had wintered at the island; and she had upon her the sign of the Twins.

Murdock Translation
And after three months we departed, sailing in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the island, and which bore the signal of the Twins.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And after three monethes we departed in a shippe of Alexandria, which had wyntred in the Ile, whose badge was Castor and Pollux.

English Revised Version
And after three months we set sail in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the island, whose sign was The Twin Brothers.

World English Bible
After three months, we set sail in a ship of Alexandria which had wintered in the island, whose sign was "The Twin Brothers."

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the island, whose sign was Castor and Pollux.

Weymouth's New Testament
Three months passed before we set sail in an Alexandrian vessel, called the `Twin Brothers,' which had wintered at the island.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And after thre monethis we schippiden in a schip of Alisaundre, that hadde wyntrid in the ile, to which was an excellent singne of Castours.

Update Bible Version
And after three months we set sail in a ship of Alexandria which had wintered in the island, whose sign was The Twin Brothers.

Webster's Bible Translation
And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux.

New English Translation
After three months we put out to sea in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered at the island and had the "Heavenly Twins" as its figurehead.

New King James Version
After three months we sailed in an Alexandrian ship whose figurehead was the Twin Brothers, which had wintered at the island.

New Living Translation
It was three months after the shipwreck that we set sail on another ship that had wintered at the island—an Alexandrian ship with the twin gods as its figurehead.

New Life Bible
We had stayed on the island three months. Then we left on a ship that had stayed there during the winter. It was from the city of Alexandria. This ship was called the Twin Brothers.

New Revised Standard
Three months later we set sail on a ship that had wintered at the island, an Alexandrian ship with the Twin Brothers as its figurehead.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, after three months, we sailed in a ship which had wintered in the island, a ship of Alexandria, whose ensign was The Twin Brothers;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And after three months, we sailed in a ship of Alexandria, that had wintered in the island, whose sign was the Castors.

Revised Standard Version
After three months we set sail in a ship which had wintered in the island, a ship of Alexandria, with the Twin Brothers as figurehead.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
After thre monethes we departed in a ship of Alexandry which had wyntred in the yle whose badge was Castor and Pollux.

Young's Literal Translation
And after three months, we set sail in a ship (that had wintered in the isle) of Alexandria, with the sign Dioscuri,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
After thre monethes we sayled in a shippe of Alexandria, which had wyntred in the Ile, and had a badge of Castor and Pollux.

Mace New Testament (1729)
After having been there three months, we embark'd on board the Castor and Pollux from Alexandria, that had put in there by hard weather:

Simplified Cowboy Version
We had stayed in Malta for three months before we began our journey again. We were given a ship with two gods on the figurehead.

Contextual Overview

¹²We put in at Syracuse for three days and then went up the coast to Rhegium. Two days later, with the wind out of the south, we sailed into the Bay of Naples. We found Christian friends there and stayed with them for a week. And then we came to Rome. Friends in Rome heard we were on the way and came out to meet us. One group got as far as Appian Court; another group met us at Three Taverns—emotion-packed meetings, as you can well imagine. Paul, brimming over with praise, led us in prayers of thanksgiving. When we actually entered Rome, they let Paul live in his own private quarters with a soldier who had been assigned to guard him. Three days later, Paul called the Jewish leaders together for a meeting at his house. He said, "The Jews in Jerusalem arrested me on trumped-up charges, and I was taken into custody by the Romans. I assure you that I did absolutely nothing against Jewish laws or Jewish customs. After the Romans investigated the charges and found there was nothing to them, they wanted to set me free, but the Jews objected so fiercely that I was forced to appeal to Caesar. I did this not to accuse them of any wrongdoing or to get our people in trouble with Rome. We've had enough trouble through the years that way. I did it for Israel. I asked you to come and listen to me today to make it clear that I'm on Israel's side, not against her. I'm a hostage here for hope, not doom." They said, "Nobody wrote warning us about you. And no one has shown up saying anything bad about you. But we would like very much to hear more. The only thing we know about this Christian sect is that nobody seems to have anything good to say about it." They agreed on a time. When the day arrived, they came back to his home with a number of their friends. Paul talked to them all day, from morning to evening, explaining everything involved in the kingdom of God, and trying to persuade them all about Jesus by pointing out what Moses and the prophets had written about him. Some of them were persuaded by what he said, but others refused to believe a word of it. When the unbelievers got cantankerous and started bickering with each other, Paul interrupted: "I have just one more thing to say to you. The Holy Spirit sure knew what he was talking about when he addressed our ancestors through Isaiah the prophet: Go to this people and tell them this: "You're going to listen with your ears, but you won't hear a word; You're going to stare with your eyes, but you won't see a thing. These people are blockheads! They stick their fingers in their ears so they won't have to listen; They screw their eyes shut so they won't have to look, so they won't have to deal with me face-to-face and let me heal them." "You've had your chance. The non-Jewish outsiders are next on the list. And believe me, they're going to receive it with open arms!" Paul lived for two years in his rented house. He welcomed everyone who came to visit. He urgently presented all matters of the kingdom of God. He explained everything about Jesus Christ. His door was always open. ¹⁵ Once everyone was accounted for and we realized we had all made it, we learned that we were on the island of Malta. The natives went out of their way to be friendly to us. The day was rainy and cold and we were already soaked to the bone, but they built a huge bonfire and gathered us around it. Paul pitched in and helped. He had gathered up a bundle of sticks, but when he put it on the fire, a venomous snake, roused from its torpor by the heat, struck his hand and held on. Seeing the snake hanging from Paul's hand like that, the natives jumped to the conclusion that he was a murderer getting his just deserts. Paul shook the snake off into the fire, none the worse for wear. They kept expecting him to drop dead, but when it was obvious he wasn't going to, they jumped to the conclusion that he was a god! The head man in that part of the island was Publius. He took us into his home as his guests, drying us out and putting us up in fine style for the next three days. Publius's father was sick at the time, down with a high fever and dysentery. Paul went to the old man's room, and when he laid hands on him and prayed, the man was healed. Word of the healing got around fast, and soon everyone on the island who was sick came and got healed. We spent a wonderful three months on Malta. They treated us royally, took care of all our needs and outfitted us for the rest of the journey. When an Egyptian ship that had wintered there in the harbor prepared to leave for Italy, we got on board. The ship had a carved Gemini for its figurehead: "the Heavenly Twins." We put in at Syracuse for three days and then went up the coast to Rhegium. Two days later, with the wind out of the south, we sailed into the Bay of Naples. We found Christian friends there and stayed with them for a week. And then we came to Rome. Friends in Rome heard we were on the way and came out to meet us. One group got as far as Appian Court; another group met us at Three Taverns—emotion-packed meetings, as you can well imagine. Paul, brimming over with praise, led us in prayers of thanksgiving. When we actually entered Rome, they let Paul live in his own private quarters with a soldier who had been assigned to guard him. Three days later, Paul called the Jewish leaders together for a meeting at his house. He said, "The Jews in Jerusalem arrested me on trumped-up charges, and I was taken into custody by the Romans. I assure you that I did absolutely nothing against Jewish laws or Jewish customs. After the Romans investigated the charges and found there was nothing to them, they wanted to set me free, but the Jews objected so fiercely that I was forced to appeal to Caesar. I did this not to accuse them of any wrongdoing or to get our people in trouble with Rome. We've had enough trouble through the years that way. I did it for Israel. I asked you to come and listen to me today to make it clear that I'm on Israel's side, not against her. I'm a hostage here for hope, not doom." They said, "Nobody wrote warning us about you. And no one has shown up saying anything bad about you. But we would like very much to hear more. The only thing we know about this Christian sect is that nobody seems to have anything good to say about it." They agreed on a time. When the day arrived, they came back to his home with a number of their friends. Paul talked to them all day, from morning to evening, explaining everything involved in the kingdom of God, and trying to persuade them all about Jesus by pointing out what Moses and the prophets had written about him. Some of them were persuaded by what he said, but others refused to believe a word of it. When the unbelievers got cantankerous and started bickering with each other, Paul interrupted: "I have just one more thing to say to you. The Holy Spirit sure knew what he was talking about when he addressed our ancestors through Isaiah the prophet: Go to this people and tell them this: "You're going to listen with your ears, but you won't hear a word; You're going to stare with your eyes, but you won't see a thing. These people are blockheads! They stick their fingers in their ears so they won't have to listen; They screw their eyes shut so they won't have to look, so they won't have to deal with me face-to-face and let me heal them." "You've had your chance. The non-Jewish outsiders are next on the list. And believe me, they're going to receive it with open arms!" Paul lived for two years in his rented house. He welcomed everyone who came to visit. He urgently presented all matters of the kingdom of God. He explained everything about Jesus Christ. His door was always open. ¹⁶ Once everyone was accounted for and we realized we had all made it, we learned that we were on the island of Malta. The natives went out of their way to be friendly to us. The day was rainy and cold and we were already soaked to the bone, but they built a huge bonfire and gathered us around it. Paul pitched in and helped. He had gathered up a bundle of sticks, but when he put it on the fire, a venomous snake, roused from its torpor by the heat, struck his hand and held on. Seeing the snake hanging from Paul's hand like that, the natives jumped to the conclusion that he was a murderer getting his just deserts. Paul shook the snake off into the fire, none the worse for wear. They kept expecting him to drop dead, but when it was obvious he wasn't going to, they jumped to the conclusion that he was a god! The head man in that part of the island was Publius. He took us into his home as his guests, drying us out and putting us up in fine style for the next three days. Publius's father was sick at the time, down with a high fever and dysentery. Paul went to the old man's room, and when he laid hands on him and prayed, the man was healed. Word of the healing got around fast, and soon everyone on the island who was sick came and got healed. We spent a wonderful three months on Malta. They treated us royally, took care of all our needs and outfitted us for the rest of the journey. When an Egyptian ship that had wintered there in the harbor prepared to leave for Italy, we got on board. The ship had a carved Gemini for its figurehead: "the Heavenly Twins." We put in at Syracuse for three days and then went up the coast to Rhegium. Two days later, with the wind out of the south, we sailed into the Bay of Naples. We found Christian friends there and stayed with them for a week. And then we came to Rome. Friends in Rome heard we were on the way and came out to meet us. One group got as far as Appian Court; another group met us at Three Taverns—emotion-packed meetings, as you can well imagine. Paul, brimming over with praise, led us in prayers of thanksgiving. When we actually entered Rome, they let Paul live in his own private quarters with a soldier who had been assigned to guard him.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Cir, am 4067, ad 63

a ship: Acts 6:9, Acts 27:6

whose: Isaiah 45:20, Jonah 1:5, Jonah 1:16, 1 Corinthians 8:4

Reciprocal: Acts 21:8 - we that 1 Corinthians 16:6 - winter 2 Corinthians 11:26 - in perils by mine

Cross-References

Genesis 28:18
Jacob was up first thing in the morning. He took the stone he had used for his pillow and stood it up as a memorial pillar and poured oil over it. He christened the place Bethel (God's House). The name of the town had been Luz until then.

Genesis 31:46
Jacob called his family around, "Get stones!" They gathered stones and heaped them up and then ate there beside the pile of stones. Laban named it in Aramaic, Yegar-sahadutha (Witness Monument); Jacob echoed the naming in Hebrew, Galeed (Witness Monument).

Matthew 8:20
Jesus was curt: "Are you ready to rough it? We're not staying in the best inns, you know."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And after three months we departed,.... From Melita; here they stayed the three winter months, which were unseasonable for navigation; but now the spring coming on, and the weather agreeable, they left the island, and sailed

in a ship of Alexandria; :-;

which had wintered in the isle; perhaps all the said three months, for the same reason:

whose sign was Castor and Pollux; or Dioscuri, that is, the sons of Jupiter; for Castor and Pollux were his sons, by Leda: these are placed among the constellations in the Zodiac, and go by the name of Gemini, or the twins; and these were supposed to have a power of saving men in danger at sea: wherefore such as were about to go to sea, first paid their devoirs, and made vows to them; which they performed when they returned, and were delivered from shipwreck; and when they were in danger at sea, they used to pray unto them: the fiery exhalations that sometimes appear at sea, they took for them; and when only one appeared, it was looked on as a bad omen; but when both, it was reckoned to portend a prosperous voyage; hence they were considered as sea deities; and the Ethiopic version accordingly renders it here "Dioscoura", and adds, "who is the god of the mariners": now the images of these two brothers were sometimes set at the head, or forepart of the ship, as they were in this, from whence the ship took its name; as it is very common for the names of ships to be the same with the pictures or images that are placed at the head of them: whether the centurion chose this ship because of its sign, imagining there might be more safety in it, he having suffered shipwreck already; or whether this was the only one in the island, that was going for Italy, is not certain, nor very material: the Arabic version takes the word rendered Castor and Pollux, to be the name of a man, who was the owner of the ship; for it reads the words thus, "in a ship of Alexandria", that belonged "to a man of Alexandria, called Dioscorides".

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And after three months - Probably they remained there so long because there was no favorable opportunity for them to go to Rome. If they arrived there, as is commonly supposed, in October, they left for Rome in January.

In a ship of Alexandria - See the notes on Acts 27:6.

Whose sign - Which was ornamented with an image of Castor and Pollux. It was common to place on the prow of the ship the image of some person or god, whose name the ship bore. This custom is still observed.

Castor and Pollux - These were two semi-deities. They were reputed to be twin brothers, sons of Jupiter and Leda, the wife of Tyndarus, king of Sparta. After their death, they are fabled to have been transported to heaven, and made constellations under the name of Gemini, or the Twins. They then received divine honors, and were called the sons of Jupiter. They were supposed to preside over sailors, and to be their protectors; hence it was not uncommon to place their image on ships. Compare Lempriere’s Dictionary.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Acts 28:11. After three months — Supposing that they had reached Malta about the end of October, as we have already seen, then it appears that they left it about the end of January, or the beginning of February; and, though in the depth of winter, not the worst time for sailing, even in those seas, the wind being then generally more steady; and, on the whole, the passage more safe.

Whose sign was Castor and Pollux. — These were two fabulous semi-deities, reported to be the sons of Jupiter and Leda, who were afterwards translated to the heavens, and made the constellation called Gemini, or the Twins. This constellation was deemed propitious to mariners; and, as it was customary to have the images of their gods both on the head and stern of their ships, we may suppose that this Alexandrian ship had these on either her prow or stern, and that these gave name to the ship. We, who profess to be a Christian people, follow the same heathen custom: we have out ships called the Castor, the Jupiter, the Minerva, the Leda, (the mother of Castor and Pollux,) with a multitude of other demon gods and goddesses; so that, were ancient Romans or Grecians to visit our navy, they would be led to suppose that, after the lapse of more than 2000 years, their old religion had continued unaltered!

Virgil speaks of a vessel called the Tiger. AEneid, x. ver. 166:-

Massicus aerata princeps secat aequora TIGRI.

"Massicus, chief, cuts the waves in the brazen-beaked TIGER."

Of another called the Chimera. AEn. v. ver. 118, 223:-

Ingentemque Gyas ingenti mole CHIMAERAM.

"Gyas the vast Chimera's bulk commands."

And of another called the Centaur. AEn. v. ver. 122, 155, 157:-

__________________ CENTAURO invehitur magna.

"Sergestus, in the great Centaur, took the leading place."

Besides these names, they had their tutelary gods in the ship, from whom they expected succour; and sometimes they had their images on the stern; and when they got safely to the end of their voyage, they were accustomed to crown these images with garlands: thus Virgil, Geor. i. ver. 304: -

PUPPIBUS et laeti naute imposuere CORONAS.

"The joyous sailors place garlands on their sterns."

Several ancient fables appear to have arisen out of the names of ships. Jupiter is fabled to have carried off Europa, across the sea, in the shape of a bull; and to have carried away Ganymede, in the shape of an eagle. That is, these persons were carried away, one in a ship called Taurus, or Bull; and the other in one denominated Aquila, the Eagle. Why not Taurus, as well as Tigris? and why not Aquila, as well as Chimera?-which names did belong to ships, as we find from the above quotations.