28:1

Malta: The Greek text uses the term Me·liʹte, which for centuries has been identified with the modern-day island of Malta. The ship on which Paul traveled was forced southward by strong winds, from Cnidus on the SW tip of Asia Minor to below Crete. (Ac 27:7, 12, 13, 21) At Ac 27:27, the record says that the ship was “being tossed about on the Sea of Adria,” which in Paul’s day applied to an area larger than the present-day Adriatic Sea. It included the Ionian Sea and waters E of Sicily and W of Crete, thus encompassing the sea near modern-day Malta. (See study note on Ac 27:27.) In view of the prevailing winds of the storm called Euroaquilo (Ac 27:14), it is likely that the ship was driven W and shipwrecked on the island of Malta, S of Sicily. Over the years, some scholars have suggested other islands as the Biblical Me·liʹte. One theory singled out an island near Corfu, off the western coast of Greece. Another suggestion is based on the Greek word Me·liʹte and points to Melite Illyrica, now known as Mljet, located off the coast of Croatia in the present-day Adriatic Sea. However, in view of the Bible’s description of the route, it is unlikely that the ship turned and sailed as far northward as Corfu or Mljet.​—See App. B13.