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Acts 13 · a question people ask

"John departed from them and returned to Jerusalem." (13:13). Why did he leave?

In the text

The chapter doesn't say. It tells that "They also had John as their attendant" (13:5), and then, at Perga, "John departed from them and returned to Jerusalem" (13:13), and the next verse goes on, "But they, passing on from Perga, came to Antioch of Pisidia." (13:14). It gives no reason for the leaving. These notes add none, and say no more of this John than these verses say.

The verses

“When they were at Salamis, they proclaimed God’s word in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John as their attendant.”
Acts 13:5 · World English Bible
“Now Paul and his company set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. John departed from them and returned to Jerusalem. But they, passing on from Perga, came to Antioch of Pisidia. They went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down.”
Acts 13:13-14 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Acts 13

Acts 13: Good news of the promise

In a synagogue, just after "the reading of the law and the prophets" (13:15), Paul said that those in Jerusalem didn't know "the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath", and "fulfilled them by condemning him" (13:27). "But God raised him from the dead" (13:30).

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Last reviewed October 7, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions