Acts Chapter 20 verse 3 Holy Bible
And when he had spent three months `there,' and a plot was laid against him by Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he determined to return through Macedonia.
read chapter 20 in ASV
And when he had been there three months, because the Jews had made a secret design against him when he was about to take ship for Syria, he made a decision to go back through Macedonia.
read chapter 20 in BBE
And having spent three months [there], a treacherous plot against him having been set on foot by the Jews, as he was going to sail to Syria, [the] resolution was adopted of returning through Macedonia.
read chapter 20 in DARBY
And there abode three months. And when the Jews laid wait for him, as he was about to sail into Syria, he purposed to return through Macedonia.
read chapter 20 in KJV
read chapter 20 in WBT
When he had spent three months there, and a plot was made against him by Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he determined to return through Macedonia.
read chapter 20 in WEB
having made also three months' `stay' -- a counsel of the Jews having been against him -- being about to set forth to Syria, there came `to him' a resolution of returning through Macedonia.
read chapter 20 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 3. - When he had spent ... there for there abode, A.V.; a plot was laid against him by the Jews for when the Jews laid wait for him, A.V.; for for into, A.V.; determined for purposed, A.V. (ἐγένετο γνώμης, R.T.). When he had spent three months. For this use of ποιεῖν, see Acts 15:33; Acts 18:33. See also 2 Corinthians 11:25, where the R.V. varies the rendering, and seems to take ποιεῖν as a verb neuter, as the A.V. does here, the accusative (μῆνας τρεῖς) being taken as that of time how long. And a plot, etc. There is no "and" in the Greek. It is better to take the T.R., and to consider ποιήσας as a nominative pendens as ἐπιγνόντες is in Acts 19:34, according to the reading of Meyer, Alford, etc. A plot was laid against him by the Jews. It appears from this that Apollos had not succeeded in subduing the bigoted hatred of the Corinthian Jews. But probably the desperate measure of a plot against his life (ἐπιβουλή, as in Acts 9:23, 24; ver. 19 of this chapter, and Acts 23:30) is an indication that many of their number had joined the Church; and that the unbelieving remnant, being foiled in argument, had recourse to violence. He determined; literally, according to the R.T., he was of opinion. But the T.R. has ἐγένετο γνώμη, "his opinion was," the construction of the sentence being changed. The three months were probably chiefly spent at Corinth, according to the intention expressed in 1 Corinthians 16:6, though it would seem that he had stayed a longer time in Macedonia than he anticipated. It was during his sojourn at Corinth that the Epistle to the Romans was written.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(3) When the Jews laid wait for him . . .--In sailing for Syria, Cenchreae would naturally be the port of embarkation, and St. Paul's presence there may reasonably be connected with the mention of Ph?be, the deaconess of that church, in Romans 16:1. His intention was, however, frustrated. The malignant Jews of Corinth watched their opportunity. At Cenchreae, amid the stir and bustle of a port, they might do what they had failed to do before. Here there was no Gallio to curb their fury, and throw the aegis of his tolerant equity over their victim. Their plans were laid, and their victim was to be seized and made away with as he was on the point of embarking. On hearing of the plot, the Apostle had to change his plans, and started with his companions for Macedonia, either travelling by land or taking a ship bound for one of its ports, instead of the one bound for Caesarea, or Tyre, or Joppa. It is clear that the latter course would have baffled his murderers quite as much as the former.
