Acts 27:31–44

27:31 Paul said to the centurion106 and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you107 cannot be saved.” 27:32 Then the soldiers cut the ropes108 of the ship’s boat and let it drift away.109

27:33 As day was about to dawn,110 Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day you have been in suspense111 and have gone112 without food; you have eaten nothing.113 27:34 Therefore I urge you to take some food, for this is important114 for your survival.115 For not one of you will lose a hair from his head.” 27:35 After he said this, Paul116 took bread117 and gave thanks to God in front of them all,118 broke119 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-six120 persons on the ship.)121 27:38 When they had eaten enough to be satisfied,122 they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat123 into the sea.

Paul is Shipwrecked

27:39 When day came, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed124 a bay125 with a beach,126 where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. 27:40 So they slipped127 the anchors128 and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the linkage129 that bound the steering oars130 together. Then they hoisted131 the foresail132 to the wind and steered toward133 the beach. 27:41 But they encountered a patch of crosscurrents134 and ran the ship aground; the bow stuck fast and could not be moved, but the stern was being broken up by the force135 of the waves. 27:42 Now the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners136 so that none of them would escape by swimming away.137 27:43 But the centurion,138 wanting to save Paul’s life,139 prevented them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land,140 27:44 and the rest were to follow,141 some on planks142 and some on pieces of the ship.143 And in this way144 all were brought safely to land.

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106	sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.
107	sn The pronoun you is plural in Greek.
108	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.
109	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.
110	tn BDAG 160 s.v. ἄχρι 1.b.α has “ἄ. οὗ ἡμέρα ἤμελλεν γίνεσθαι until the day began to dawn 27:33.”
111	tn Or “have waited anxiously.” Grk “waiting anxiously.” The participle προσδοκῶντες (prosdokōntes) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
112	tn Or “continued.”
113	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.
114	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.”
115	tn Or “deliverance” (‘salvation’ in a nontheological sense).
116	tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
117	tn Grk “taking bread, gave thanks.” The participle λαβών (labōn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
118	tn Or “before them all,” but here this could be misunderstood to indicate a temporal sequence.
119	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.
120	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.
121	sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
122	tn Or “When they had eaten their fill.”
123	tn Or “grain.”
124	tn Or “observed,” “saw.”
125	tn Or “gulf” (BDAG 557 s.v. κόλπος 3).
126	sn A beach would refer to a smooth sandy beach suitable for landing.
127	tn That is, released. Grk “slipping … leaving.” The participles περιελόντες (perielontes) and εἴων (eiōn) have been translated as finite verbs due to requirements of contemporary English style.
128	tn The term is used of a ship’s anchor. (BDAG 12 s.v. ἄγκυρα a).
129	tn Grk “bands”; possibly “ropes.”
130	tn Or “rudders.”
131	tn Grk “hoisting … they.” The participle ἐπάραντες (eparantes) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
132	tn Grk “sail”; probably a reference to the foresail.
133	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.”
134	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 [this], ταινία [tainia]), a “reef” (ἑρμα [herma]), “strait” (στενόν [stenon]), “promontory” (ἀρωτήρον [arōtēron]), and other nautical hazards, none of which are used by the author here. NEB here translates τόπον διθάλασσον (topon dithalasson) 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.
135	tn Or “violence” (BDAG 175 s.v. βία a).
136	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.
137	tn The participle ἐκκολυμβήσας (ekkolumbēsas) has been taken instrumentally.
138	sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.
139	tn Or “wanting to rescue Paul.” sn Thanks to the centurion who wanted to save Paul’s life, Paul was once more rescued from a potential human threat.
140	tn BDAG 347 s.v. I. ἔξειμι has “ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν get to land Ac 27:43.”
141	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.
142	tn Or “boards” according to BDAG 913 s.v. σανίς.
143	tn Grk “on pieces from the ship”; that is, pieces of wreckage from the ship. sn Both the planks and pieces of the ship were for the weak or nonswimmers. The whole scene is a historical metaphor representing how listening to Paul and his message could save people.
144	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.

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