Acts 20:13

Paul goes on foot to Assos, then by sea to Miletus

13. And we went before to ship The conjunction should be adversative. The writer is describing now what the rest, without St Paul, did. Read " But we," i.e. St Luke and some of the other companions of the Apostle, " going before to the ship," i.e. before St Paul's departure from the congregation and those events by which it was attended.

and sailed unto Assos Better "set sail for Assos." The verb is only indicative of the putting-out to sea. Assos was in Mysia, on the north shore of the gulf of Adramyttium. Opposite and about seven miles out at sea lay the island of Lesbos. There was a Roman road from Troas passing through Assos. So while the ship went round the cape Lectum, the Apostle was able to come by land and be taken on board by his companions.

there intending … to go afoot The last verb when opposed to a journey by sea, need not necessarily signify a pedestrian journey, but may mean only "by land." This (as Rev. Ver.) seems the better rendering here, for although the distance between Troas and Assos is only 20 miles, yet after the labours and excitement of the past night, a walk of that length would scarcely have been contemplated by the Apostle, when his companions in the ship already had the start of him. Many reasons have been suggested why St Paul separated for a few hours from his friends: that he wished for solitude: that he would not be at sea one moment before he could help it: that there was some Christian duty which he could perform on the way: or for his health's sake. The historian, who probably knew, has not told us, and conjectures in such a case are valueless.