Setting sail from Paphos, Paul and his companions (literally, "those around Paul," a Hellenistic phrase that indicates the change in leadership; contrast 13:2, 7) travel 160 miles to the bay of Attalia on the south central Asia Minor coast. They evidently bypass the port city of Attalia (14:25), proceeding eight miles up the Cestrus River and on to Perga, five miles from the river. John Mark leaves the group at this point and returns to Jerusalem.

The missionary band does not evangelize Perga but takes a six-day journey some eighty miles up the river valleys to Pisidian Antioch. They must pass through rugged, hostile terrain infested with robber bands and onto the central Anatolian plateau, elevation over thirty-six hundred feet.

Pisidian Antioch was also founded by Seleucus I Nicator (see comment at 11:19). The Romans made it a Roman colony in 25 B.C., settling army veterans and their families there. It served as the main garrison city for a number of Roman outposts to the south. Pisidian Antioch sat astride the Via Sebaste, the Roman road from Ephesus to the Euphrates. Such a location and history meant that the population was a diverse mixture of Phrygian, Greek, Jewish and Roman.

Luke gives us a fascinating glimpse of a diaspora synagogue service. He notes in passing the Scripture readings. These came from the Pentateuch, possibly on a triennial lectionary cycle, and often but not always from the Prophets. For the latter, the reader was free to choose a passage from anywhere in the Former and Latter Prophets. A translation into the local language would follow.

Luke notes that at this point the synagogue rulers invite one of Paul's group to preach. These officials supervised and officiated at the service, maintaining order, choosing participants and making sure all went smoothly (Lk 8:41; 13:14; m. Yoma 7:1; m. Sota 7:7). The sermon, a message of encouragement, would both exhort and comfort Jews as they lived in faithful obedience to the law and waited for the final salvation of Israel (Lk 2:25; 1 Macc 12:9). It would be based on a text of the preacher's own choosing but would also weave in texts from the Scripture readings of the day (see Bowker 1967:101-10; Dumais 1979; compare Philo De Specialibus Legibus 2.62).