Acts 27:20

27:20 When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and a violent ¹  storm continued to batter us, ²  we finally abandoned all hope of being saved. ³ 

Acts 27:41-44

27:41 But they encountered a patch of crosscurrents ⁴  and ran the ship aground; the bow stuck fast and could not be moved, but the stern was being broken up by the force ⁵  of the waves. 27:42 Now the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners ⁶  so that none of them would escape by swimming away. ⁷  27:43 But the centurion, ⁸  wanting to save Paul’s life, ⁹  prevented them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land, ¹⁰  27:44 and the rest were to follow, ¹¹  some on planks ¹²  and some on pieces of the ship. ¹³  And in this way ¹⁴  all were brought safely to land.

Acts 27:1

Paul and Company Sail for Rome

27:1 When it was decided we ¹⁵  would sail to Italy, ¹⁶  they handed over Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion ¹⁷  of the Augustan Cohort ¹⁸  named Julius.

Acts 4:18

4:18 And they called them in and ordered ¹⁹  them not to speak or teach at all in the name ²⁰  of Jesus.

[27:20]  ¹ tn Grk “no small storm” = a very great storm.

[27:20]  ² tn Grk “no small storm pressing on us.” The genitive absolute construction with the participle ἐπικειμένου (epikeimenou) has been translated as parallel to the previous genitive absolute construction (which was translated as temporal). BDAG 373 s.v. ἐπίκειμαι 2.b states, “of impersonal force confront χειμῶνος ἐπικειμένου since a storm lay upon us Ac 27:20.” L&N 14.2, “‘the stormy weather did not abate in the least’ or ‘the violent storm continued’ Ac 27:20.” To this last was added the idea of “battering” from the notion of “pressing upon” inherent in ἐπίκειμαι (epikeimai).

[27:20]  ³ tn Grk “finally all hope that we would be saved was abandoned.” The passive construction has been converted to an active one to simplify the translation. This represents a clearly secular use of the term σῴζω (swzw) in that it refers to deliverance from the storm. At this point those on board the ship gave up hope of survival.

[27:41]  ⁴ tn 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]  ⁵ tn Or “violence” (BDAG 175 s.v. βία a).

[27:42]  ⁶ sn 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]  ⁷ tn The participle ἐκκολυμβήσας (ekkolumbhsa") has been taken instrumentally.

[27:43]  ⁸ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[27:43]  ⁹ tn Or “wanting to rescue Paul.”

[27:43]  ¹⁰ tn BDAG 347 s.v. I. ἔξειμι has “ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν get to land Ac 27:43.”

[27:44]  ¹¹ tn 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]  ¹² tn Or “boards” according to BDAG 913 s.v. σανίς.

[27:44]  ¹³ tn Grk “on pieces from the ship”; that is, pieces of wreckage from the ship.

[27:44]  ¹⁴ tn 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.

[27:1]  ¹⁵ sn The last “we” section in Acts begins here and extends to 28:16 (the previous one ended at 21:18).

[27:1]  ¹⁶ sn Sail to Italy. This voyage with its difficulty serves to show how God protected Paul on his long journey to Rome. From the perspective of someone in Palestine, this may well picture “the end of the earth” quite literally (cf. Acts 1:8).

[27:1]  ¹⁷ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[27:1]  ¹⁸ tn According to BDAG 917 s.v. σεβαστός, “In σπεῖρα Σεβαστή 27:1 (cp. OGI 421) Σεβαστή is likew. an exact transl. of Lat. Augusta, an honorary title freq. given to auxiliary troops (Ptolem. renders it Σεβαστή in connection w. three legions that bore it: 2, 3, 30; 2, 9, 18; 4, 3, 30) imperial cohort.” According to W. Foerster (TDNT 7:175), “In Ac. 27:1 the σπεῖρα Σεβαστή is an expression also found elsewhere for ‘auxiliary troops.’” In no case would this refer to a special imperial bodyguard, and to translate “imperial regiment” or “imperial cohort” might give this impression. There is some archaeological evidence for a Cohors Augusta I stationed in Syria during the time of Augustus, but whether this is the same unit is very debatable.

[4:18]  ¹⁹ tn Or “commanded.”

[4:18]  ²⁰ sn In the name of Jesus. Once again, the “name” reflects the person. The person of Jesus and his authority is the “troubling” topic that, as far as the Jewish leadership is concerned, needs controlling.