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After three months we set sail on an Alexandrian ship which had wintered at the island, and which had the Twin Brothers for its figurehead.
Acts 28:11 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB After three months, we set sail in a ship of Alexandria which had wintered in the island, whose sign was “The Twin Brothers.”
  • KJV And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux.
  • BSB After three months we set sail in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered in the island. It had the Twin Brothers as a figurehead.
  • NKJV After three months we sailed in an Alexandrian ship whose figurehead was the Twin Brothers, which had wintered at the island.
  • NLT It was three months after the shipwreck that we set sail on another ship that had wintered at the island—an Alexandrian ship with the twin gods as its figurehead.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

After three months Paul sets sail on an Alexandrian ship named for the pagan twin gods. The narrative resumes its careful, eyewitness detail.

Overview

Once winter passes and sailing is safe, the party boards a grain ship from Alexandria bearing the figurehead of Castor and Pollux, the 'Twin Brothers' sailors invoked for protection. Luke's precise nautical details mark this as firsthand testimony. The irony is quiet: the true protector of these travelers is the living God, not the gods carved on the prow.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 6

  • Acts 27:6There the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy, and he put us on board.
  • 1 Cor 8:4Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other God but one.
  • Isa 45:20“Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. Those have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved image, and pray to a god that can’t save.
  • Acts 6:9But some of those who were of the synagogue called “The Libertines”, and of the Cyrenians, of the Alexandrians, and of those of Cilicia and Asia arose, disputing with Stephen.
  • Jonah 1:5Then the mariners were afraid, and every man cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship, and he was laying down, and was fast asleep.
  • Jonah 1:16Then the men feared Yahweh exceedingly; and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh, and made vows.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Acts videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Acts 28:11YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on ActsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Acts is the risen Christ continuing his work by the Spirit through the church, as the apostles preach that there is salvation in no other name under heaven.

How Acts 28:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.