20:16a

The Greek conjunction often translated as “for” introduces this verse. It introduces an explanation why Paul wanted to sail directly from Assos to Miletus. For example:

For Paul had decided to sail… (Revised Standard Version)

In some languages it may be more natural to omit the Greek conjunction.

Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus: The phrase had decided indicates here that Paul decided earlier in the journey to sail past Ephesus. He probably chose a ship in Troas (20:13) that was not going to Ephesus.

to sail past Ephesus: After leaving the harbor near Chios, the ship sailed southeast, directly to Samos. It did not turn east and sail to Ephesus. Other ways to translate this clause are:

not to sail/go to Ephesus
-or-
to sail straight ⌊to Samos/Miletus⌋ without going to Ephesus
-or-
to sail past Ephesus ⌊on his way to Miletus⌋

20:16b

to avoid spending time: Here the phrase spending time refers to staying for a day or more. Paul did not want to stay in Ephesus and delay his journey to Jerusalem. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

so that he might not have to spend time (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
so as not to lose any time (Good News Translation)
-or-
so that he would not be delayed there

the province of Asia: The Berean Standard Bible adds the phrase the province of. At that time the name Asia referred to a region in what is now the western part of the country of Turkey. See how you translated this phrase in 20:4.

20:16c

because: This word introduces the reason for Paul wanting to avoid spending time in Asia.

if possible: This phrase indicates that Paul was trying to go to Jerusalem before Pentecost, but he was not sure that he would arrive there by that time.

Pentecost: The word Pentecost refers to a holy day for the Jews. It means “fiftieth.” It is the Greek name for the Feast of Weeks (Leviticus 23:15–21), fifty days after the Passover.

For Christians it refers to the events of 2:1–13. It became a holy day for Christians, seven weeks after Easter, but it is not clear when this practice began.

In some languages this name is not well known. If that is true in your language, you may want to use the name from the common language and explain it in your translation. For example:

Pentecost ⌊holy day⌋

You may also want to explain it in a footnote. An example footnote is:

The word “Pentecost” refers to a holy day for Jews and Christians. For Jews it refers to Leviticus 23:15–21. For Christians, it refers to Acts 2:1–13.

© 2001, 2021 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.