Perga was a city about eight miles inland from the coast; it is presumed that the missionaries landed at Attalia and made their way by land to Perga. However it is possible that they may have sailed up the Cestrus River for eight miles, disembarking at the river port of Perga about five miles from the city itself. Pamphylia was a very poor district lying between the Taurus mountains and the sea.

In a number of languages it is important to be quite specific about geographical relationships, and therefore in such languages one may be required to use a rather technical term for sailing from an island to the mainland, equivalent in some languages to “closed the straits.” If a term such as came would represent movement over land then it may be necessary to say “reached the coast and then went to Perga.”

Note also the problem of geographical viewpoint in words such as came and went. Most languages take the viewpoint of the individual who is traveling and therefore are more likely to say “went to Perga.” Similarly John Mark would “go back to Jerusalem,” or since he had been there before and this was his home it would be “returned to Jerusalem.”

No reason is given as to why John Mark left them there and went back to Jerusalem and speculations lead nowhere.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .