Acts 27:42

42 And the soldiers’ counsel was that they should kill the prisoners, lest any of them, swimming out should 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 And when they had taken up the anchors, they committed themselves to the sea, loosing withal the rudder bands. And hoisting up the mainsail to the wind, they made towards shore.

41 And when we were fallen into a place where two seas met, they run the ship aground. And the forepart indeed, sticking fast, remained unmoveable: but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the sea.

42 And the soldiers’ counsel was that they should kill the prisoners, lest any of them, swimming out should escape.

43 But the centurion, willing to save Paul, forbade it to be done. And he commanded that they who could swim should cast themselves first into the sea and save themselves and get to land.

44 And the rest, some they carried on boards and some on those things that belonged to the ship. And so it came to pass that every soul got safe to land.