21:3a

After sighting Cyprus: As the ship sailed southeast towards Phoenicia, it passed near enough to the island of Cyprus where the people on the ship could see it. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

When we had come in sight of Cyprus (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
We could see the island of Cyprus (God’s Word)
-or-
We sailed near the island of Cyprus, seeing it (New Century Version)

Cyprus: This name refers to an island in the Mediterranean Sea west of Syria. See how you spelled this name in 15:39.

passing south of it: The Greek words are literally “leaving it on the left hand.” For example:

passed it on our left (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
sailing past on/to the right side of it

But in some languages it is more natural to use a direction. For example:

sailed south of it (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
sailed…seeing it to the north (New Century Version)

21:3b

Syria: At that time the name Syria referred to a province under Roman rule. It was north of Judea and Galilee. The western border was the coast on the Mediterranean sea. The region of Phoenicia was part of it.

It is previously mentioned in Acts four times (15:23, 15:41, 18:18, 20:3). If you indicated that Syria was a province in one of those verses, you may not need to indicate that it refers to a province again here.

But in some languages people are not familiar with this name. You may want to indicate what the name refers to again here. For example:

⌊the province of⌋ Syria

21:3c

landed: Here the word landed indicates that the ship arrived at the place where people got off the ship. Here it implies that Paul and the others left the ship and went ashore. Other ways to translate this clause are:

stopped (New Century Version)
-or-
went ashore (Good News Translation)

Tyre: Tyre was the principal city of Phoenicia. In some languages people are not familiar with this name. You may want to indicate what the name refers to here. For example:

⌊the city of⌋ Tyre

the ship was to unload its cargo: The people who worked on the ship unloaded the cargo. In some languages, it is more natural to refer to those people unloading the ship. For example:

our ship’s cargo would be unloaded
-or-
our ship’s crew would unload it

the ship: Some English versions add the word “our.” Paul and his companions traveled by that ship. It did not belong to them. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

our ship (New International Version)
-or-
the ship that we traveled by
-or-
the ship that we took here

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