Acts 27:39-44

Context

Paul is Shipwrecked

27:39 When day came, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed¹ a bay² with a beach,³ where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. 27:40 So they slipped⁴ the anchors⁵ and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the linkage⁶ that bound the steering oars⁷ together. Then they hoisted⁸ the foresail⁹ to the wind and steered toward¹⁰ the beach. 27:41 But they encountered a patch of crosscurrents¹¹ and ran the ship aground; the bow stuck fast and could not be moved, but the stern was being broken up by the force¹² of the waves. 27:42 Now the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners¹³ so that none of them would escape by swimming away.¹⁴ 27:43 But the centurion,¹⁵ wanting to save Paul’s life,¹⁶ prevented them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land,¹⁷ 27:44 and the rest were to follow,¹⁸ some on planks¹⁹ and some on pieces of the ship.²⁰ And in this way²¹ all were brought safely to land.

[27:39] ¹tn Or “observed,” “saw.”

[27:39] ²tn Or “gulf” (BDAG 557 s.v. κόλπος 3).

[27:39] ³sn A beach would refer to a smooth sandy beach suitable for landing.

[27:40] ⁴tn That is, released. Grk “slipping…leaving.” The participles περιελόντες (perielonte") and εἴων (eiwn) have been translated as finite verbs due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[27:40] ⁵tn The term is used of a ship’s anchor. (BDAG 12 s.v. ἄγκυρα a).

[27:40] ⁶tn Grk “bands”; possibly “ropes.”

[27:40] ⁷tn Or “rudders.”

[27:40] ⁸tn Grk “hoisting…they.” The participle ἐπάραντες (eparante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[27:40] ⁹tn Grk “sail”; probably a reference to the foresail.

[27:40] ¹⁰tn BDAG 533 s.v. κατέχω 7 states, “hold course, nautical t.t., intr….κατεῖχον εἰς τὸν αἰγιαλόν they headed for the beach Ac 27:40.”

[27:41] ¹¹tn Grk “fell upon a place of two seas.” The most common explanation for this term is that it refers to a reef or sandbar with the sea on both sides, as noted in BDAG 245 s.v. διθάλασσος: the “τόπος δ. Ac 27:41 is a semantic unit signifying a point (of land jutting out with water on both sides).” However, Greek had terms for a “sandbank” (θῖς [qis], ταινία [tainia]), a “reef” (ἑρμα [Jerma]), “strait” (στενόν [stenon]), “promontory” (ἀρωτήρον [arwthron]), and other nautical hazards, none of which are used by the author here. NEB here translates τόπον διθάλασσον (topon diqalasson) as “cross-currents,” a proposal close to that advanced by J. M. Gilchrist, “The Historicity of Paul’s Shipwreck,” JSNT 61 (1996): 29-51, who suggests the meaning is “a patch of cross-seas,” where the waves are set at an angle to the wind, a particular hazard for sailors. Thus the term most likely refers to some sort of adverse sea conditions rather than a topographical feature like a reef or sandbar.

[27:41] ¹²tn Or “violence” (BDAG 175 s.v. βία a).

[27:42] ¹³sn The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners. The issue here was not cruelty, but that the soldiers would be legally responsible if any prisoners escaped and would suffer punishment themselves. So they were planning to do this as an act of self-preservation. See Acts 16:27 for a similar incident.

[27:42] ¹⁴tn The participle ἐκκολυμβήσας (ekkolumbhsa") has been taken instrumentally.

[27:43] ¹⁵sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[27:43] ¹⁶tn Or “wanting to rescue Paul.”

[27:43] ¹⁷tn BDAG 347 s.v. I. ἔξειμι has “ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν get to land Ac 27:43.”

[27:44] ¹⁸tn The words “were to follow” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. They must be supplied to clarify the sense in contemporary English.

[27:44] ¹⁹tn Or “boards” according to BDAG 913 s.v. σανίς.

[27:44] ²⁰tn Grk “on pieces from the ship”; that is, pieces of wreckage from the ship.

[27:44] ²¹tn Grk “And in this way it happened that.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.