Acts 27:44

27:44 and the rest were to follow, ¹  some on planks ²  and some on pieces of the ship. ³  And in this way ⁴  all were brought safely to land.

Acts 27:43

27:43 But the centurion, ⁵  wanting to save Paul’s life, ⁶  prevented them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land, ⁷ 

Acts 28:4

28:4 When the local people ⁸  saw the creature hanging from Paul’s ⁹  hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer! Although he has escaped from the sea, Justice herself ¹⁰  has not allowed him to live!” ¹¹ 

[27:44]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Or “boards” according to BDAG 913 s.v. σανίς.

[27:44]  ³ tn Grk “on pieces from the ship”; that is, pieces of wreckage from the ship.

[27:44]  ⁴ 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.

[27:43]  ⁵ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[27:43]  ⁶ tn Or “wanting to rescue Paul.”

[27:43]  ⁷ tn BDAG 347 s.v. I. ἔξειμι has “ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν get to land Ac 27:43.”

[28:4]  ⁹ tn Although this is literally βάρβαροι (barbaroi; “foreigners, barbarians”) used for non-Greek or non-Romans, as BDAG 166 s.v. βάρβαρος 2.b notes, “Of the inhabitants of Malta, who apparently spoke in their native language Ac 28:2, 4 (here β. certainly without derogatory tone…).”

[28:4]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “his”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:4]  ¹¹ tn That is, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live. BDAG 250 s.v. δίκη 2 states, “Justice personified as a deity Ac 28:4”; L&N 12.27, “a goddess who personifies justice in seeking out and punishing the guilty – ‘the goddess Justice.’ ἡ δίκη ζῆν οὐκ εἴασεν ‘the goddess Justice would not let him live’ Ac 28:4.” Although a number of modern English translations have rendered δίκη (dikh) “justice,” preferring to use an abstraction, in the original setting it is almost certainly a reference to a pagan deity. In the translation, the noun “justice” was capitalized and the reflexive pronoun “herself” was supplied to make the personification clear. This was considered preferable to supplying a word like ‘goddess’ in connection with δίκη.

[28:4]  ¹² sn The entire scene is played out initially as a kind of oracle from the gods resulting in the judgment of a guilty person (Justice herself has not allowed him to live). Paul’s survival of this incident without ill effects thus spoke volumes about his innocence.