Acts 27:9-14

Caught in a Violent Storm

27:9 Since considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous ¹  because the fast ²  was already over, ³  Paul advised them, ⁴  27:10 “Men, I can see the voyage is going to end ⁵  in disaster ⁶  and great loss not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” ⁷  27:11 But the centurion ⁸  was more convinced ⁹  by the captain ¹⁰  and the ship’s owner than by what Paul said. ¹¹  27:12 Because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided ¹²  to put out to sea ¹³  from there. They hoped that ¹⁴  somehow they could reach ¹⁵  Phoenix, ¹⁶  a harbor of Crete facing ¹⁷  southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there. 27:13 When a gentle south wind sprang up, they thought ¹⁸  they could carry out ¹⁹  their purpose, so they weighed anchor ²⁰  and sailed close along the coast ²¹  of Crete. 27:14 Not long after this, a hurricane-force ²²  wind called the northeaster ²³  blew down from the island. ²⁴ 

[27:9]  ¹ tn Or “unsafe” (BDAG 383 s.v. ἐπισφαλής). The term is a NT hapax legomenon.

[27:9]  ² sn The fast refers to the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. It was now into October and the dangerous winter winds would soon occur (Suetonius, Life of Claudius 18; Josephus, J. W. 1.14.2-3 [1.279-281]).

[27:9]  ³ tn The accusative articular infinitive παρεληλυθέναι (parelhluqenai) after the preposition διά (dia) is causal. BDAG 776 s.v. παρέρχομαι 2 has “διὰ τὸ τὴν νηστείαν ἤδη παρεληλυθέναι because the fast was already over Ac 27:9.”

[27:9]  ⁴ tn Grk “Paul advised, saying to them.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in English and has not been translated. On the term translated “advised,” see BDAG 764 s.v. παραινέω, which usually refers to recommendations.

[27:10]  ⁵ tn Grk “is going to be with disaster.”

[27:10]  ⁶ tn Or “hardship,” “damage.” BDAG 1022 s.v. ὕβρις 3 states, “fig. hardship, disaster, damage caused by the elements…w. ζημία Ac 27:10.”

[27:10]  ⁷ tn Grk “souls” (here, one’s physical life).

[27:11]  ⁹ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[27:11]  ¹⁰ tn Or “persuaded.”

[27:11]  ¹¹ tn BDAG 456 s.v. κυβερνήτης 1 has “one who is responsible for the management of a ship, shipmaster…W. ναύκληρος, the ‘shipowner’…Ac 27:11” See further L. Casson, Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World, 316-18.

[27:11]  ¹² tn Grk “than by what was said by Paul.” The passive construction has been converted to an active one to simplify the translation.

[27:12]  ¹³ tn BDAG 181-82 s.v. βουλή 2.a, “β. τίθεσθαι (Judg 19:30; Ps 12:3) decide 27:12 (w. inf. foll.).”

[27:12]  ¹⁴ tn BDAG 62 s.v. ἀνάγω 4, “as a nautical t.t. (ἀ. τὴν ναῦν put a ship to sea), mid. or pass. ἀνάγεσθαι to begin to go by boat, put out to sea.”

[27:12]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “from there, if somehow” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was begun here in the translation and the introductory phrase “They hoped that” supplied (with the subject, “they,” repeated from the previous clause) to make a complete English sentence.

[27:12]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “if somehow, reaching Phoenix, they could…” The participle καταντήσαντες (katanthsante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[27:12]  ¹⁷ sn Phoenix was a seaport on the southern coast of the island of Crete. This was about 30 mi (48 km) further west.

[27:12]  ¹⁸ tn Or “a harbor of Crete open to the southwest and northwest.”

[27:13]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “thinking.” The participle δόξαντες (doxante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[27:13]  ¹⁸ tn Or “accomplish.” L&N 68.29, for κρατέω, has “to be able to complete or finish, presumably despite difficulties – ‘to accomplish, to do successfully, to carry out.’ …‘thinking that they could carry out their purpose’ Ac 27:13.”

[27:13]  ¹⁹ tn Or “departed.”

[27:13]  ²⁰ tn L&N 54.8, “παραλέγομαι: (a technical, nautical term) to sail along beside some object – ‘to sail along the coast, to sail along the shore.’…‘they sailed along the coast of Crete’ Ac 27:13.” With the addition of the adverb ἆσσον (asson) this becomes “sailed close along the coast of Crete.”

[27:14]  ²¹ tn Grk “a wind like a typhoon.” That is, a very violent wind like a typhoon or hurricane (BDAG 1021 s.v. τυφωνικός).

[27:14]  ²² sn Or called Euraquilo (the actual name of the wind, a sailor’s term which was a combination of Greek and Latin). According to Strabo (Geography 1.2.21), this was a violent northern wind.

[27:14]  ²³ tn Grk “from it”; the referent (the island) has been specified in the translation for clarity.