Acts 27:26-44

27:26 But we must ¹  run aground on some island.”

27:27 When the fourteenth night had come, while we were being driven ²  across the Adriatic Sea, ³  about midnight the sailors suspected they were approaching some land. ⁴  27:28 They took soundings ⁵  and found the water was twenty fathoms ⁶  deep; when they had sailed a little farther ⁷  they took soundings again and found it was fifteen fathoms ⁸  deep. 27:29 Because they were afraid ⁹  that we would run aground on the rocky coast, ¹⁰  they threw out ¹¹  four anchors from the stern and wished ¹²  for day to appear. ¹³  27:30 Then when the sailors tried to escape from the ship and were lowering the ship’s boat into the sea, pretending ¹⁴  that they were going to put out anchors from the bow, 27:31 Paul said to the centurion ¹⁵  and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you ¹⁶  cannot be saved.” 27:32 Then the soldiers cut the ropes ¹⁷  of the ship’s boat and let it drift away. ¹⁸ 

27:33 As day was about to dawn, ¹⁹  Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day you have been in suspense ²⁰  and have gone ²¹  without food; you have eaten nothing. ²²  27:34 Therefore I urge you to take some food, for this is important ²³  for your survival. ²⁴  For not one of you will lose a hair from his head.” 27:35 After he said this, Paul ²⁵  took bread ²⁶  and gave thanks to God in front of them all, ²⁷  broke ²⁸  it, and began to eat. 27:36 So all of them were encouraged and took food themselves. 27:37 (We were in all two hundred seventy-six ²⁹  persons on the ship.) ³⁰  27:38 When they had eaten enough to be satisfied, ³¹  they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat ³²  into the sea.

Paul is Shipwrecked

27:39 When day came, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed ³³  a bay ³⁴  with a beach, ³⁵  where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. 27:40 So they slipped ³⁶  the anchors ³⁷  and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the linkage ³⁸  that bound the steering oars ³⁹  together. Then they hoisted ⁴⁰  the foresail ⁴¹  to the wind and steered toward ⁴²  the beach. 27:41 But they encountered a patch of crosscurrents ⁴³  and ran the ship aground; the bow stuck fast and could not be moved, but the stern was being broken up by the force ⁴⁴  of the waves. 27:42 Now the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners ⁴⁵  so that none of them would escape by swimming away. ⁴⁶  27:43 But the centurion, ⁴⁷  wanting to save Paul’s life, ⁴⁸  prevented them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land, ⁴⁹  27:44 and the rest were to follow, ⁵⁰  some on planks ⁵¹  and some on pieces of the ship. ⁵²  And in this way ⁵³  all were brought safely to land.

[27:26]  ¹ tn This is another use of δεῖ (dei) to indicate necessity (see also v. 24). Acts 28:1 shows the fulfillment of this.

[27:27]  ² tn Here “being driven” has been used to translate διαφέρω (diaferw) rather than “drifting,” because it is clear from the attempt to drop anchors in v. 29 that the ship is still being driven by the gale. “Drifting” implies lack of control, but not necessarily rapid movement.

[27:27]  ³ sn The Adriatic Sea. They were now somewhere between Crete and Malta.

[27:27]  ⁴ tn Grk “suspected that some land was approaching them.” BDAG 876 s.v. προσάγω 2.a states, “lit. ὑπενόουν προσάγειν τινά αὐτοῖς χώραν they suspected that land was near (lit. ‘approaching them’) Ac 27:27.” Current English idiom would speak of the ship approaching land rather than land approaching the ship.

[27:28]  ⁵ tn Grk “Heaving the lead, they found.” The participle βολίσαντες (bolisante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. See also BDAG 180 s.v. βολίζω. Although the term is used twice in this verse (and thus is technically not a NT hapax legomenon), it occurs nowhere else in the NT.

[27:28]  ⁶ sn A fathom is about 6 feet or just under 2 meters (originally the length of a man’s outstretched arms). This was a nautical technical term for measuring the depth of water. Here it was about 120 ft (36 m).

[27:28]  ⁷ tn L&N 15.12, “βραχὺ δὲ διαστήσαντες ‘when they had gone a little farther’ Ac 27:28.”

[27:28]  ⁸ sn Here the depth was about 90 ft (27 m).

[27:29]  ⁹ tn Grk “fearing.” The participle φοβούμενοι (foboumenoi) has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.

[27:29]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “against a rough [rocky] place.” L&N 79.84 has “φοβούμενοί τε μή που κατὰ τραχεῖς τόποις ἐκπέσωμεν ‘we were afraid that we would run aground on the rocky coast’ Ac 27:29.”

[27:29]  ¹¹ tn Grk “throwing out…they.” The participle ῥίψαντες (rJiyante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[27:29]  ¹² tn BDAG 417 s.v. εὔχομαι 2 states, “wish…τὶ for someth.…Foll. by acc. and inf….Ac 27:29.” The other possible meaning for this term, “pray,” is given in BDAG 417 s.v. 1 and employed by a number of translations (NAB, NRSV, NIV). If this meaning is adopted here, then “prayed for day to come” must be understood metaphorically to mean “prayed that they would live to see the day,” or “prayed that it would soon be day.”

[27:29]  ¹³ tn Grk “and wished for day to come about.”

[27:30]  ¹⁴ tn BDAG 889 s.v. πρόφασις 2 states, “προφάσει ὡς under the pretext that, pretending that…Ac 27:30.” In other words, some of the sailors gave up hope that such efforts would work and instead attempted to escape while pretending to help.

[27:31]  ¹⁵ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[27:31]  ¹⁶ sn The pronoun you is plural in Greek.

[27:32]  ¹⁷ sn The soldiers cut the ropes. The centurion and the soldiers were now following Paul’s advice by cutting the ropes to prevent the sailors from escaping.

[27:32]  ¹⁸ tn Or “let it fall away.” According to BDAG 308 s.v. ἐκπίπτω 1 and 2 the meaning of the verb in this verse could be either “fall away” or “drift away.” Either meaning is acceptable, and the choice between them depends almost entirely on how one reconstructs the scene. Since cutting the boat loose would in any case result in it drifting away (whether capsized or not), the meaning “drift away” as a nautical technical term has been used here.

[27:33]  ¹⁹ tn BDAG 160 s.v. ἄχρι 1.b.α has “ἄ. οὗ ἡμέρα ἤμελλεν γίνεσθαι until the day began to dawn 27:33.”

[27:33]  ²⁰ tn Or “have waited anxiously.” Grk “waiting anxiously.” The participle προσδοκῶντες (prosdokwnte") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[27:33]  ²¹ tn Or “continued.”

[27:33]  ²² tn Grk “having eaten nothing.” The participle προσλαβόμενοι (proslabomenoi) has been translated as a finite verb (with subject “you” supplied) due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[27:34]  ²³ tn Or “necessary.” BDAG 873-74 s.v. πρός 1 has “πρ. τῆς σωτηρίας in the interest of safety Ac 27:34”; L&N 27.18 has “‘therefore, I urge you to take some food, for this is important for your deliverance’ or ‘…for your survival’ Ac 27:34.”

[27:34]  ²⁴ tn Or “deliverance” (‘salvation’ in a nontheological sense).

[27:35]  ²⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:35]  ²⁶ tn Grk “taking bread, gave thanks.” The participle λαβών (labwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[27:35]  ²⁷ tn Or “before them all,” but here this could be misunderstood to indicate a temporal sequence.

[27:35]  ²⁸ tn Grk “and breaking it, he began.” The participle κλάσας (klasas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[27:37]  ²⁹ tc One early ms (B) and an early version (sa) read “about seventy-six.” For discussion of how this variant probably arose, see F. F. Bruce, The Acts of the Apostles, 465.

[27:37]  ³⁰ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[27:38]  ³¹ tn Or “When they had eaten their fill.”

[27:38]  ³² tn Or “grain.”

[27:39]  ³³ tn Or “observed,” “saw.”

[27:39]  ³⁴ tn Or “gulf” (BDAG 557 s.v. κόλπος 3).

[27:39]  ³⁵ sn A beach would refer to a smooth sandy beach suitable for landing.

[27:40]  ³⁶ tn 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]  ³⁷ tn The term is used of a ship’s anchor. (BDAG 12 s.v. ἄγκυρα a).

[27:40]  ³⁸ tn Grk “bands”; possibly “ropes.”

[27:40]  ³⁹ tn Or “rudders.”

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

[27:40]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “sail”; probably a reference to the foresail.

[27:40]  ⁴² tn 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]  ⁴³ 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]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “violence” (BDAG 175 s.v. βία a).

[27:42]  ⁴⁵ 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]  ⁴⁶ tn The participle ἐκκολυμβήσας (ekkolumbhsa") has been taken instrumentally.

[27:43]  ⁴⁷ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[27:43]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “wanting to rescue Paul.”

[27:43]  ⁴⁹ tn BDAG 347 s.v. I. ἔξειμι has “ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν get to land Ac 27:43.”

[27:44]  ⁵⁰ 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]  ⁵¹ tn Or “boards” according to BDAG 913 s.v. σανίς.

[27:44]  ⁵² tn Grk “on pieces from the ship”; that is, pieces of wreckage from the ship.

[27:44]  ⁵³ 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.