‘And the next day we touched at Sidon. And Julius treated Paul kindly, and gave him leave to go to his friends and refresh himself.'

The next stop was Sidon, seventy miles up the coast, where they presumably stopped to unload or pick up cargo. This would leave a little time for going ashore. Julius, the centurion, appears to have struck up a rapport with Paul, and when they arrived at Sidon allowed him to visit friends there, no doubt accompanied by a guard, and to ‘refresh himself', presumably both physically and spiritually. This may include the fact that they provided money and provisions for his journey. Festus may well have given orders that Paul was to be treated as befitted a Roman citizen on appeal. He had after all made the choice to go to Rome. He was going willingly.

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