Malta is a Mediterranean island, in a straight line about 150 miles southwest from the “toe” of Italy.

When we were safely ashore appears in most translations as something like “after we had escaped” (see 27.43 and 28.4 for the same verb). The clause when we were safely ashore may be rendered as “when we had reached the shore and were safe” or “when we had escaped by reaching the shore.”

No doubt those who had escaped safely to shore learned the name of the island from the local people. Certainly there would have been no signs to identify the place. Since in some languages there are very distinct terms for learning, depending upon whether one reads something or hears it from someone else, it may be necessary to say “we learned from the people who lived there.”

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 .