Acts 27:41

41 But falling into a place of crosscurrents, they ran the ship aground. And the bow stuck fast [and] stayed immovable, but the stern was being broken up by the violence.

Acts 27:41 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 27:41

And falling into a place where two seas met
An "isthmus", on each side of which the sea ran; and which the inhabitants of Malta, as Beza says, show to this day, and call it, "la Cala de San Paulo", or the Descent of Saint Paul. The meeting of these two seas might occasion a great rippling in the sea like to a large eddy, or counter tide; and here might be a sand on which

they ran the ship aground;
for this place where the two seas met, as the same annotator observes, could not be the shore itself; for otherwise, to what purpose should they cast themselves into the sea, as they afterwards did, if the head of the ship struck upon the shore, and stuck fast there? but must rather mean a shelf of sand, opposite, or near the entrance into the bay, and where the shipwreck was.

And the fore part stuck fast, and remained unmovable;
so that there was no getting her off:

but the hinder part was broken by the violence of the waves;
that is, the stern; by which means there were boards and broken pieces for the company to get ashore upon.

Acts 27:41 In-Context

39 Now when day came, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a certain bay having a beach, onto which they decided to run the ship ashore if they could.

40 And slipping the anchors, they left [them] in the sea, at the same time loosening the ropes of the steering oars. And hoisting the foresail to the [wind] that was blowing, they held course for the beach.

41 But falling into a place of crosscurrents, they ran the ship aground. And the bow stuck fast [and] stayed immovable, but the stern was being broken up by the violence.

42 Now the plan of the soldiers was that they would kill the prisoners lest any escape [by] swimming away,

43 but the centurion, [because he] wanted to save Paul, prevented them {from doing what they intended}, and gave orders [that] those who were able to swim should jump in first to get to the land,

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "a reef"; literally "a place of two seas," an expression of uncertain meaning but most likely a nautical technical term for some adverse sea condition
• [b]. *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("stuck fast") has been translated as a finite verb
• [c]. Some manuscripts have "the violence of the waves"