Acts 27:13

13 A soft wind from the south began to blow, and the men thought that they could carry out their plan, so they pulled up the anchor and sailed as close as possible along the coast of Crete.

Acts 27:13 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 27:13

And when the south wind blew softly
Or moderately, which was a good wind for them:

supposing that they, had obtained their purpose;
that things would succeed according to their wish, and favour their design:

loosing thence;
from the Fair Havens; the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions render it, "loosing from Assos"; which could not be Assos of Troas, mentioned in ( Acts 20:13 ) which was many miles from hence; rather Asum, a town in Crete, of which Pliny ^F18 makes mention, though, according to him, it seems to be an inland town; wherefore it is best to take the word (asson) , to be an adverb, and render it "thence", as we do; or join it with the next word, and render it,

they came near, or they sailed close by Crete;
along the shore, the wind favouring them, that they were in no danger of being dashed upon it, it being a soft gentle wind.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 Nat. Hist. l. 4. c. 12.

Acts 27:13 In-Context

11 But the army officer was convinced by what the captain and the owner of the ship said, and not by what Paul said.

12 The harbor was not a good one to spend the winter in; so almost everyone was in favor of putting out to sea and trying to reach Phoenix, if possible, in order to spend the winter there. Phoenix is a harbor in Crete that faces southwest and northwest.

13 A soft wind from the south began to blow, and the men thought that they could carry out their plan, so they pulled up the anchor and sailed as close as possible along the coast of Crete.

14 But soon a very strong wind - the one called "Northeaster" - blew down from the island.

15 It hit the ship, and since it was impossible to keep the ship headed into the wind, we gave up trying and let it be carried along by the wind.