"Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them."
Acts 13:2 · King James Bible
How Acts records Paul's travels
The Acts of the Apostles records three missionary journeys plus a fourth voyage under arrest to Rome. Every one begins from Antioch in Syria and returns to it — except the last, which ends in Rome. This page holds them in one glance so a household can find its place at any point in the second half of Acts.First Journey · c. AD 47–48 (Acts 13–14)
Companions: Barnabas, John Mark (part-way).Route: Antioch (Syria) → Seleucia → Cyprus (Salamis, Paphos) → Perga in Pamphylia → Pisidian Antioch → Iconium → Lystra → Derbe → back through Lystra, Iconium, Antioch (Pisidian), Perga, Attalia → home to Antioch (Syria).
Highlights: Elymas the sorcerer struck blind (Acts 13); first synagogue sermon in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:16–41); Paul stoned at Lystra and left for dead (Acts 14:19); first Gentile churches established.
Letters written after (probably): Galatians.
Council of Jerusalem · c. AD 50 (Acts 15)
Between journeys one and two, the apostles meet in Jerusalem to settle whether Gentiles must keep the Jewish law to become Christians. James speaks. The letter goes out: they need not. This is the theological hinge of the whole book of Acts.Second Journey · c. AD 50–52 (Acts 15:36 – 18:22)
Companions: Silas, then Timothy from Lystra, then Luke from Troas.Route: Antioch → Syria and Cilicia → Derbe → Lystra → Phrygia, Galatia → Troas (the Macedonian vision) → Neapolis → Philippi → Amphipolis → Apollonia → Thessalonica → Berea → Athens → Corinth (18 months) → Cenchreae → Ephesus (brief) → Caesarea → Jerusalem → Antioch.
Highlights: The Macedonian vision — 'come over into Macedonia, and help us' (Acts 16:9); Lydia converted at Philippi; the Philippian jailer (Acts 16); Paul on Mars Hill in Athens (Acts 17:22–34).
Letters written during: 1–2 Thessalonians (from Corinth).
Third Journey · c. AD 53–57 (Acts 18:23 – 21:16)
Companions: Timothy, Titus, Tychicus, Trophimus, and others.Route: Antioch → Galatia and Phrygia (strengthening churches) → Ephesus (nearly three years — Acts 19:10) → Macedonia → Corinth (three months) → back through Macedonia → Troas → Miletus (where he calls the Ephesian elders — Acts 20:17–38) → Tyre → Caesarea → Jerusalem.
Highlights: The riot of the silversmiths at Ephesus (Acts 19); the raising of Eutychus from a third-storey window (Acts 20:9); Paul's farewell to the Ephesian elders (Acts 20).
Letters written during: 1–2 Corinthians, Romans, Galatians (some scholars); possibly also Philippians (during the imprisonment in Ephesus if there was one).
Fourth Journey · to Rome · c. AD 59–62 (Acts 21:27 – 28:31)
Companions: Luke, Aristarchus (a Macedonian).Route (under arrest): Jerusalem → Caesarea (two-year imprisonment) → shipwreck at Malta → Puteoli → Rome (two more years under house arrest).
Highlights: Paul before Felix, Festus, and Agrippa; the shipwreck (Acts 27); Paul preaching the kingdom of God unhindered from his Roman house (Acts 28:31).
Letters written during: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon (the 'prison letters').