What Does Acts 20:15 Mean in the King James?

And we sailed thence, and came the next day over against Chios; and the next day we arrived at Samos, and tarried at Trogyllium; and the next day we came to Miletus.

Acts 20:15 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

This itinerary counts staying as part of the journey, not as a gap between movements.

THE MEANING

A journey through your life includes arrival and staying as well as forward motion. The pause belongs to the route, and the next day can still come after it.

THE ROOT

μείναντες

meínantes

GROWS FROM

μεν-

men-

To stay, remain, or continue in a place.

The Greek verb under “tarried” is the same word-family as “abide.” Its place in this itinerary gives the stay at Trogyllium a clear part in the journey: the route includes remaining, not only sailing and arriving.

ALSO GROWS

monē: A dwelling place or place to remain.

μονή

This noun grows from the same stay/remain family, giving the pause in the itinerary the sense of being somewhere, not simply passing through.

emmenō: To remain in or continue in.

ἐμμένω

This compound keeps the root’s sense of staying; here, the simpler verb marks a stop within a route that continues the next day.

THE PATTERN

A journey unfolds in stages, with stopping held inside the route alongside arrival and moving on.

And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.

Genesis 28:11 · KJVThe traveler’s overnight stop is recorded as part of his passage, not as its end.

At the commandment of the LORD the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the LORD they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents.

Numbers 9:18 · KJVThe people’s route has both movement and rest, each held within its unfolding.

But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.

Luke 24:29 · KJVThe travelers reach their destination and the day’s movement gives way to staying.

THE THREAD

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

John 15:4 · KJV

“Abide” translates the same Greek verb, ⁨μένω⁩ (menō), as “tarried” here. The word can describe a stop along a journey or a branch remaining in the vine: in both, staying is a real form of being present.

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