Acts 27

When it was decided that we would sail to Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a Roman officer named Julius. He commanded a hundred soldiers in the unit called the Emperor's Regiment.

1And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus’ band.

NoteFrom this point the account is written as "we," the voice of a companion traveling with Paul rather than a report gathered later. "Augustus' band" translates a word for a cohort, a Roman army unit of several hundred men; this one carried the emperor's name as an honorary title. A centurion commanded a century, in practice about eighty men, and was the officer to whom a batch of prisoners would be handed for transport.

2We boarded a ship from Adramyttium that was about to sail to ports along the coast of Asia, and we put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us.

2And entering into a ship of Adramyttium, we launched, meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia; one Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us.

NoteAdramyttium was a port on the northwest coast of Asia Minor, near Troy. "Asia" in the King James is not the continent but the Roman province of Asia, the western end of what is now Turkey. This was a coasting vessel working its way home from port to port, so it could only carry them part of the way; they would have to change ships.

3The next day we landed at Sidon. Julius treated Paul kindly and let him go visit his friends so they could take care of him.

3And the next day we touched at Sidon. And Julius courteously entreated Paul, and gave him liberty to go unto his friends to refresh himself.

NoteSidon was a Phoenician port about seventy miles up the coast from Caesarea. "Entreated" in 1611 meant treated, not begged. A Roman prisoner was not fed or clothed by the state as a matter of course, so "to refresh himself" means to be supplied by friends with food, money and whatever he needed for a long voyage.

4When we sailed from there, we went along the sheltered side of Cyprus, because the winds were against us.

4And when we had launched from thence, we sailed under Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.

Note"Sailed under Cyprus" is sailors' language for passing along the lee, the sheltered side, so the island's bulk blocked the wind. In late summer the prevailing winds in that part of the Mediterranean blow from the west and northwest, which is why a ship headed west had to work around them rather than straight into them.

5We sailed across the open sea off the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, and came to Myra, a city in the region of Lycia.

5And when we had sailed over the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia.

NoteCilicia, Pamphylia and Lycia were Roman districts along the southern coast of Asia Minor. Myra was a major harbor where the big grain ships from Egypt put in, which is why the officer could expect to find westbound shipping there.

6There the officer found a ship from Alexandria that was sailing to Italy, and he put us on board.

6And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy; and he put us therein.

NoteA ship of Alexandria on this route almost certainly means a grain freighter carrying Egyptian wheat to Rome. These were among the largest vessels afloat, state chartered and able to take hundreds of passengers, which explains the head count later in the chapter and the cargo thrown overboard in verse 38.

7We sailed slowly for many days and barely reached a point off Cnidus. The wind would not let us go that way, so we sailed along the sheltered side of Crete, opposite Salmone.

7And when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come over against Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, we sailed under Crete, over against Salmone;

NoteCnidus was a port at the tip of a long peninsula in southwest Asia Minor. Salmone is the eastern cape of Crete. Having failed to round Cnidus and run on westward, they were forced to duck south and use Crete itself as a windbreak.

8We moved along the coast with difficulty and came to a place called Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea.

8And, hardly passing it, came unto a place which is called The fair havens; nigh whereunto was the city of Lasea.

NoteFair Havens is a small bay on the south coast of Crete, still known by the same name. Lasea was a nearby town. The harbor was open to part of the weather, which is the problem raised in verse 12.

9By now a lot of time had gone by, and sailing had become dangerous, because the Fast was already past. So Paul warned them.

9Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them,

Note"The fast" is the Day of Atonement, the one fast day commanded in the Jewish calendar, which falls in late September or early October. Ancient sailors reckoned the Mediterranean dangerous from roughly mid September and closed to shipping altogether from about early November until spring. Naming the fast is a way of giving the date, and the date is the warning.

10He said, "Men, I can see that this voyage is going to bring disaster and heavy loss, not only to the cargo and the ship, but to our own lives as well."

10And said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives.

11But the officer trusted the ship's pilot and its owner more than what Paul said.

11Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul.

NoteThe "master" is the sailing master or helmsman, the professional who navigated; the owner had the money at stake. The decision fell to the centurion because on a ship carrying state cargo and state prisoners the senior Roman official aboard outranked the crew, whatever his ignorance of the sea.

12The harbor was not a good place to spend the winter, so most of them advised sailing on. They hoped somehow to reach Phoenix and spend the winter there. Phoenix is a harbor in Crete that faces southwest and northwest.

12And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter; which is an haven of Crete, and lieth toward the south west and north west.

Note"Commodious" meant suitable or convenient. Phenice, usually spelled Phoenix, lay about forty miles further west along the Cretan coast. The phrase describing which way it faces is genuinely unclear in the Greek: it may mean the harbor looks toward the southwest and northwest, or it may mean it looks in the directions those two winds blow toward, which would be northeast and southeast. Ancient harbors were commonly described by the winds rather than by the compass.

13When a light south wind began to blow, they thought they had what they wanted. So they pulled up the anchor and sailed along, staying close to the coast of Crete.

13And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by Crete.

Note"Loosing thence" means weighing anchor and getting under way. A soft breeze from the south was exactly the wind they needed for a short westward run, and taking it looked like ordinary seamanship rather than a gamble.

14But before long a violent wind, called the Northeaster, swept down from the island.

14But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon.

NoteThe name in the Greek manuscripts appears as both Euroclydon and Eurakylon. The second form is a sailors' hybrid of the Greek Euros, the east wind, and the Latin Aquilo, the north wind, so it means something like the northeaster. "Arose against it" means the wind came tearing down off the island of Crete itself.

15The ship was caught by it and could not be turned to face the wind. So we gave up and let the ship be driven along.

15And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive.

16We passed along the sheltered side of a small island called Clauda, and there we barely managed to get the ship's small boat under control.

16And running under a certain island which is called Clauda, we had much work to come by the boat:

NoteClauda, also spelled Cauda, is a small island about twenty three miles south of Crete, today called Gavdos. The "boat" is the ship's dinghy, normally towed astern on a rope. In a gale it filled with water and dragged dangerously, so hauling it aboard was urgent and, as the verse says, extremely hard work.

17After they had hauled it aboard, the crew used ropes to wrap and brace the hull of the ship. They were afraid of running aground on the sandbars off Africa, so they lowered the sail gear and let the ship be driven along.

17Which when they had taken up, they used helps, undergirding the ship; and, fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, strake sail, and so were driven.

Note"Undergirding" means passing heavy cables around the hull and hauling them tight, a recognized emergency measure to keep a wooden ship from working itself apart in heavy seas. The "quicksands" are the Syrtis, two vast shoals off the coast of what is now Libya, feared by every Mediterranean sailor as a place where ships stuck fast and broke up. "Strake sail" is uncertain: it may mean they lowered the mainsail and its gear, or that they put out a drag astern to slow the ship, but either way the aim was to keep from being blown south into those shoals.

18The storm tossed us so violently that the next day the crew began throwing the cargo overboard.

18And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship;

19On the third day they threw out the ship's gear and rigging with their own hands.

19And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship.

Note"Tackling" covers the spare spars, rigging and heavy gear that was not keeping the ship afloat at that moment. That the passengers and crew did this "with our own hands" rather than using the ship's lifting tackle suggests the gear for hoisting was itself already gone or unusable.

20For many days neither the sun nor the stars appeared, and the huge storm kept pounding us. In the end we gave up all hope of coming out of it alive.

20And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.

NoteAncient ships had no compass. Position and heading were judged from the sun by day and the stars by night, along with the run of the coast. Days of unbroken cloud meant the crew literally did not know where they were or which way they were going, which is why the lost sun and stars is reported as the reason hope ran out.

21The men had gone a long time without food. Then Paul stood up among them and said, "Men, you should have listened to me and not sailed from Crete. Then you would have avoided this damage and loss.

21But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss.

Note"Long abstinence" is not religious fasting but going without food. In a storm of this kind the cooking fire could not be lit, stores were spoiled by seawater, and seasickness and fear did the rest.

22But now I urge you to keep up your courage. Not one of you will lose his life. Only the ship will be lost.

22And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship.

23Last night an angel of the God I belong to and serve stood beside me.

23For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve,

24The angel said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar. And listen: God has granted you the lives of everyone sailing with you.'

24Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.

Note"Thou must be brought before Caesar" points back to Paul's use of his right as a Roman citizen to have his case removed from the provincial court and heard by the emperor. That appeal is the only reason he is on this ship at all. The angel's words about the others are phrased as a gift or grant: the lives of the crew and passengers are handed to Paul.

25So keep up your courage, men, because I trust God that it will happen just as I was told.

25Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.

26But we must run aground on some island."

26Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island.

27On the fourteenth night we were still being driven back and forth across the Adriatic Sea. About midnight the sailors sensed that land was near.

27But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria, about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country;

NoteIn the first century "Adria" did not mean only the narrow sea between Italy and the Balkans. It covered the open central Mediterranean between Sicily, Italy, Malta, Crete and Greece, which is the water they were actually drifting across. "Deemed that they drew near to some country" means the sailors suspected land, probably from the sound of surf in the dark.

28They dropped a weighted line and found the water was twenty fathoms deep. A little farther on they measured again and found fifteen fathoms.

28And sounded, and found it twenty fathoms: and when they had gone a little further, they sounded again, and found it fifteen fathoms.

NoteSounding meant dropping a lead weight on a marked line to measure the depth. A fathom is six feet, originally the span of a man's outstretched arms, so twenty fathoms is about a hundred and twenty feet and fifteen fathoms about ninety. The point is not the depths themselves but that they were shoaling fast: the bottom was rising under them.

29Afraid that we would hit the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the back of the ship and wished for daylight to come.

29Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day.

NoteShips normally anchored by the bow. Anchoring by the stern was a deliberate choice that held the vessel with her bow pointed at the unseen shore, so that at first light they could cut loose and run her straight up onto the beach without having to turn in the surf.

30The sailors were trying to escape from the ship. They lowered the small boat into the sea, pretending they were going to drop anchors from the front of the ship.

30And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the boat into the sea, under colour as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship,

NoteLowering anchors from the bow was a real maneuver a crew might attempt in these conditions, which is what made the excuse plausible. Getting the dinghy into the water was the only way off the ship, and the sailors were the only men aboard with the skill to work it through surf.

31But Paul said to the Roman officer and the soldiers, "Unless these men stay on the ship, you cannot be saved."

31Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.

32So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the small boat and let it fall away.

32Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat, and let her fall off.

33As day was about to break, Paul kept urging them all to eat. He said, "Today is the fourteenth day you have waited in suspense, going without food and eating nothing.

33And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing.

Note"Meat" in 1611 means food of any kind, not flesh specifically. "Continued fasting" here again describes going without food under strain rather than a religious fast; the underlying word for how they spent the fourteen days carries the sense of keeping watch in suspense, without relief.

34So I beg you to eat something. It will help you survive. Not one hair will be lost from the head of any of you."

34Wherefore I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health: for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you.

Note"For your health" translates a word closer to preservation or survival: eating is what will get them through the swim and the landing. "There shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you" was a common expression for coming through an ordeal completely unharmed.

35When he had said this, he took bread and thanked God in front of them all. Then he broke the bread and began to eat.

35And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat.

NoteTaking bread, giving thanks and breaking it was the ordinary way any Jewish meal began, the host speaking a blessing over the loaf before dividing it. On a ship of mostly non Jewish sailors and soldiers the gesture would read simply as a man sitting down to eat and meaning it.

36Then they were all encouraged, and they ate some food themselves.

36Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat.

37There were 276 of us on board the ship in all.

37And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls.

Note"Threescore" is sixty, so two hundred threescore and sixteen is 276. Some ancient manuscripts read seventy six instead. Either figure is possible for a grain freighter, which carried crew, passengers and soldiers together.

38When they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea.

38And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea.

NoteThe wheat is the ship's cargo, Egyptian grain bound for Rome, where imported grain fed the city. Throwing it overboard was the last and most expensive lightening available, done only once they had fixed on beaching the ship and had no further use for her as a carrier.

39When daylight came, they did not recognize the land. But they saw a bay with a beach, and they decided to run the ship onto it if they could.

39And when it was day, they knew not the land: but they discovered a certain creek with a shore, into the which they were minded, if it were possible, to thrust in the ship.

Note"Creek" in 1611 means an inlet or bay, not a small stream. "They knew not the land" means the coast was unfamiliar to them, so they could not tell what lay behind the beach or whether the approach was safe.

40So they cut the anchors loose and left them in the sea. At the same time they untied the ropes that held the steering oars. Then they raised the front sail to the wind and headed for the beach.

40And when they had taken up the anchors, they committed themselves unto the sea, and loosed the rudder bands, and hoised up the mainsail to the wind, and made toward shore.

NoteAncient ships were steered by two large oars, one on each quarter, which were hauled up and lashed while at anchor; the "rudder bands" are those lashings, released to give steering again. "Hoised" is simply an older form of hoisted. The sail raised was most likely the small foresail set forward, enough to drive the ship onto the beach under control rather than the full mainsail.

41But they struck a place where two currents met, and the ship ran aground. The front of the ship stuck fast and would not move, while the back was being broken apart by the pounding waves.

41And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained unmoveable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves.

Note"A place where two seas met" describes a spit, bar or shoal with water running on both sides, where opposing currents meet and the bottom rises without warning. The Greek is not precise about the formation, and the rendering leaves it as open as the original does.

42The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners, so that none of them could swim away and escape.

42And the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape.

NoteUnder Roman practice a guard who let a prisoner escape faced the penalty the prisoner would have suffered. Killing the prisoners in the confusion was therefore not cruelty for its own sake but the soldiers protecting their own necks.

43But the officer wanted to save Paul's life, so he stopped them from doing it. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land.

43But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose; and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land:

44The rest were to follow, some on planks and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it happened that everyone reached land safely.

44And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.