And when it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan Cohort named Julius. And embarking in a ship of Adramyttium, which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, we put to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. The next day we put in at Sidon. And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him leave to go to his friends and be cared for. And putting out to sea from there we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us. And when we had sailed across the open sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia. There the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy and put us on board. We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, and as the wind did not allow us to go farther, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone. Coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea.
Comment: Watching ‘ Who do you think you are?’ on TV I am sometimes amazed at how complete are the records of prisoners shipped out to Australia, when it was a penal colony! As Paul is shipped off to Rome we have such a manifesto. I’m not sure if there is an extant copy in the old Roman records, but certainly when it was written you could have looked it up. So under the watchful eye of Julius, and in company of Aristarchus (although I’m not sure where he fits into the picture) they sailed past Cyprus to Myra in Lycia. It was late in the year for travelling but they edged their way to Cnidus, Salmone and Fair Havens which was near Lasea. This is not an easy trip to Rome, but Paul’s doctor friend Luke is travelling with them and we continue to get an accurate record of what happened.
Prayer: Step by step we trust You, Lord to bring us home!
As I read it! 