Kisah Para Rasul 27:41-43

27:41 But they encountered a patch of crosscurrents ¹  and ran the ship aground; the bow stuck fast and could not be moved, but the stern was being broken up by the force ²  of the waves. 27:42 Now the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners ³  so that none of them would escape by swimming away. ⁴  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 

[27:41]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Or “violence” (BDAG 175 s.v. βία a).

[27:42]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn The participle ἐκκολυμβήσας (ekkolumbhsa") has been taken instrumentally.

[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]  sn Thanks to the centurion who wanted to save Paul’s life, Paul was once more rescued from a potential human threat.

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