Acts 27:41

41 But we didn't make it. Still far from shore, we hit a reef and the ship began to break up.

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 At daybreak, no one recognized the land - but then they did notice a bay with a nice beach. They decided to try to run the ship up on the beach.

40 They cut the anchors, loosed the tiller, raised the sail, and ran before the wind toward the beach.

41 But we didn't make it. Still far from shore, we hit a reef and the ship began to break up.

42 The soldiers decided to kill the prisoners so none could escape by swimming,

43 but the centurion, determined to save Paul, stopped them. He gave orders for anyone who could swim to dive in and go for it,