Acts 27:42

42 At this point the soldiers' thought was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim off and escape.

Acts 27:42 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 27:42

And the soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners
Paul, and the rest: this they had not only an inclination to, but they declared it, and gave it as their opinion, and what they thought advisable to be done directly:

lest any of them should swim out and escape;
and they should be accountable for them: but this was dreadful wickedness in them to seek to take away the lives of others, when they themselves were in so much danger; and monstrous ingratitude to the Apostle Paul, who had been so much concerned for their lives, and careful of them, and had been the means of saving them, and for whose sake they were saved: the devil must have had a great hand in this.

Acts 27:42 In-Context

40 So they cut away the anchors and left them in the sea; at the same time, they loosened the ropes that held the rudders out of the water. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and headed for the beach.

41 But they encountered a place where two currents meet, and ran the vessel aground on the sandbar there. The bow stuck and would not move, while the pounding of the surf began to break up the stern.

42 At this point the soldiers' thought was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim off and escape.

43 But the officer, wanting to save Sha'ul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to throw themselves overboard first and head for shore,

44 and the rest to use planks or whatever they could find from the ship. Thus it was that everyone reached land safely.