Acts 27:7

7 We had several days of slow sailing, and after great difficulty we finally neared Cnidus. But the wind was against us, so we sailed across to Crete and along the sheltered coast of the island, past the cape of Salmone.

Acts 27:7 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 27:7

And when we had sailed slowly many days
Because of contrary winds, as in ( Acts 27:4 ) or else for want of wind, as some think; the Syriac version renders it, "and because it sailed heavily"; that is, the ship being loaden with goods:

and scarce were come over against Cnidus;
or "Gnidus", as it is sometimes called; it was a city and promontory in Doris, in the Chersonese or peninsula of Caria, famous for the marble statue of Venus made by Praxiteles ^F18; it was over against the island of Crete, and is now called Capo Chio; it was the birthplace of Eudoxus, a famous philosopher, astrologer, geometrician, physician and lawgiver ^F19; it is made mention of in:

``And to all the countries and to Sampsames, and the Lacedemonians, and to Delus, and Myndus, and Sicyon, and Caria, and Samos, and Pamphylia, and Lycia, and Halicarnassus, and Rhodus, and Aradus, and Cos, and Side, and Aradus, and Gortyna, and Cnidus, and Cyprus, and Cyrene.'' (1 Maccabees 15:23)

Jerom ^F20 says, it was a famous island over against Asia, joining to the province of Caria; some think it has its name from the fish "Gnidus", which is taken about this place, and which is of such an extraordinary nature, that when taken in the hand, it stings like a nettle; others ^F21 derive it from (dge) "hanad", or "gnad", which, in the Phoenician language signifies "to join"; because, as both Pausanias ^F23 and Strabo ^F24 say, it was joined by a bridge or causeway to the continent: it had two ports in it, as the last mentioned writer says, but into neither of them did the ship put, in which the apostle was; nor do we read of the Gospel being preached here, or of a church in it until the "sixth" century, when mention is made of a bishop of Gnidus in the acts of the synod at Rome and Constantinople ^F25:

the wind not suffering us;
to go right forward, as the Syriac version adds:

we sailed under Crete;
or below it, as in ( Acts 27:4 ) This is now called Candy; (See Gill on Acts 2:11), over against Salmone; now called Capo Salamone: this, by Pliny ^F26, Ptolomy ^F1, and Mela ^F2, is called Samonium or Sammonium, and by them said to be a promontory in the island of Crete, on the east side of it, over against the island of Rhodes; Strabo calls it Salmonion, an eastern promontory of Crete; and Jerom a maritime city of the island of Crete.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 Plin. l. 5. c. 28. Ptolom. l. 5. c. 2. Mela, l. 1. c. 16. Pausanias, l. 1. p. 2.
F19 Laert. de Vit. Philosoph. l. 8. p. 622.
F20 De locis Hebraicis, fol. 96. A.
F21 Hiller. Onomasticum, p. 790.
F23 Eliac. 1. sive, l. 5. p. 335.
F24 Geograph. l. 14.
F25 Magdeburg. Hist. cent. 6. c. 2. p. 4.
F26 Hist. l. 4. c. 12.
F1 Geograph. l. 3. c. 17.
F2 De orbis Situ, l. 2. c. 7.

Acts 27:7 In-Context

5 Keeping to the open sea, we passed along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, landing at Myra, in the province of Lycia.

6 There the commanding officer found an Egyptian ship from Alexandria that was bound for Italy, and he put us on board.

7 We had several days of slow sailing, and after great difficulty we finally neared Cnidus. But the wind was against us, so we sailed across to Crete and along the sheltered coast of the island, past the cape of Salmone.

8 We struggled along the coast with great difficulty and finally arrived at Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea.

9 We had lost a lot of time. The weather was becoming dangerous for sea travel because it was so late in the fall, and Paul spoke to the ship’s officers about it.