Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 16:7

"and when they were come over against Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia; and the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not;" — Acts 16:7 (ASV)

They assayed to go into Bithynia.—The verse describes very vividly the uncertainty produced day by day by this conflict between human plans and divine direction. Bithynia, lying to the north, had, like Pontus, a considerable Jewish population scattered along its shores, and they were inclined to take that as their next field of labor. They were led on, however, as before, westward and not northward. There is no record of any considerable halt in this stage of their journey, and they probably found few favorable openings in a district which, for a great part of the way, presented only unimportant villages. The use of the archaic form “assayed” for “essayed,” or “attempted,” calls for a word of notice. (Compare to Acts 9:26.)

The Spirit suffered them not.—The better manuscripts and versions give the reading, the Spirit of Jesus, which is of some dogmatic importance, as confirming the doctrine that the Spirit stands in the same relation to the Son as to the Father, and may therefore be spoken of either as the Spirit of God, or of Christ (Romans 8:9), or of Jesus.