Acts 27:34

34 Therefore I advise you to take some food; you need it for your own survival. For not one of you will lose so much as a hair from his head."

Acts 27:34 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 27:34

Wherefore I pray you to take some meat
To sit down composedly, and eat meat cheerfully and freely:

for this is for your health;
the Alexandrian copy reads, "for our health"; it was for the health of them all, that they might be better able to bear the shock and fatigue of the shipwreck, and be in better spirits, and in a better capacity to help themselves, and one another:

for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you;
a proverbial phrase, expressing the utmost safety of their lives, and therefore might cheerfully eat their food, and rest themselves, and be satisfied. To dream of shaving the hair, portended shipwreck to sailors; nor was it lawful for any to pare his nails, or cut off his hair, but in a storm; to which custom, some think, the apostle here alludes F23; see ( 1 Samuel 14:45 ) ( 2 Samuel 14:11 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F23 Kirchman. de funer. Rom. l. 2. c. 14. p. 212, 213.

Acts 27:34 In-Context

32 Then the soldiers cut the ropes holding the lifeboat and let it go.
33 Just before daybreak, Sha'ul urged them all to eat, saying, "Today is the fourteenth day you have been in suspense, going hungry, eating nothing.
34 Therefore I advise you to take some food; you need it for your own survival. For not one of you will lose so much as a hair from his head."
35 When he had said this, he took bread, said the b'rakhah to God in front of everyone, broke it and began to eat.
36 With courage restored, they all ate some food themselves.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.