Acts 27:17

Which when they had taken up, they used helps, undergirding the ship; and, fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, strake sail, and so were driven.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
Which	ἣν hēn	G3739	the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun · relative pronoun — accusative singular feminine
up	ἄραντες arantes	G142	to lift up · verb — aorist active participle, nominative plural masculine
used	ἐχρῶντο echrōnto	G5530	to furnish what is needed · verb — imperfect middle or passive deponent indicative, 3rd person plural
helps	βοηθείαις boētheiais	G996	aid · noun — dative plural feminine
undergirding	ὑποζωννύντες hupozōnnuntes	G5269	to gird under · verb — present active participle, nominative plural masculine
ship	πλοῖον· ploion	G4143	a sailer · noun — accusative singular neuter
and	τε te	G5037	both or also (properly · conjunction
fearing	φοβούμενοί phoboumenoi	G5399	to frighten · verb — present middle or passive deponent participle, nominative plural masculine
lest	μὴ mē	G3361	(adverb) not · particle — negative
fall	ἐκπέσωσιν ekpesōsin	G1601	to drop away · verb — second aorist active subjunctive, 3rd person plural
into	εἰς eis	G1519	to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
quicksands	Σύρτιν Surtin	G4950	a shoal (from the sand drawn thither by the waves) · noun — accusative singular feminine, a place
strake	χαλάσαντες chalasantes	G5465	to lower (as into a void) · verb — aorist active participle, nominative plural masculine
sail	σκεῦος, skeuos	G4632	a vessel · noun — accusative singular neuter
so	οὕτως houtōs	G3779	in this way (referring to what precedes or follows) · adverb
driven	ἐφέροντο. epheronto	G5342	to "bear" or carry (in a very wide application · verb — imperfect passive indicative, 3rd person plural

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Acts 27:29 Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day.
Acts 27:26 Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island.
Acts 27:41 And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained unmoveable, but the hinder…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Acts 27:12-20

In these verses we have, I. The ship putting to sea again, and pursuing her voyage at first with a promising gale. Observe, 1. What induced them to leave the fair havens: it was because they thought the harbour not commodious to winter in; it was pleasant enough in summer but in the winter they lay bleak. Or perhaps it was upon some other account incommodious; provisions perhaps were scarce and dear there; and they ran upon a mischief to avoid an inconvenience, as we often do. Some of the ship's crew, or of the council that was called to advise in this matter, were for staying there, rather than venturing to sea now that the weather was so uncertain: it is better to be safe in an incommodiou…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 27:17

undergirding the ship--that is, passing four or five turns of a cable-laid rope round the hull or frame of the ship, to enable her to resist the violence of the seas, an operation rarely resorted to in modern seamanship. fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands--"be cast ashore" or "stranded upon the Syrtis," the Syrtis Major, a gulf on the African coast, southwest of Crete, the dread of mariners, owing to its dangerous shoals. they strake--"struck" sail--This cannot be the meaning, for to strike sail would have driven them directly towards the Syrtis. The meaning must be, "lowered the gear" (appurtenances of every kind); here, perhaps, referring to the lowering of the heavy m…

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Adam Clarke on Acts 27:17

Undergirding the ship - This method has been used even in modern times. It is called frapping the ship. A stout cable is slipped under the vessel at the prow, which they can conduct to any part of the ship's keel; and then fasten the two ends on the deck, to keep the planks from starting: as many rounds as they please may be thus taken about the vessel. An instance of this kind is mentioned in Lord Anson's Voyage round the World. Speaking of a Spanish man-of-war in a storm: "They were obliged to throw overboard all their upper-deck guns, and take six turns of the cable round the ship, to prevent her opening." P. 24, 4to. edit. The same was done by a British line-of-battle ship in 1763, on he…

The Church Fathers

They were being carried under control with a newly lowered sail. Another translation places it thus: "Fearing that they might fall into the Syrtic, they loosened the ropes and thus were being carried."
— Bede, Commentary on Acts

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Crete — Now called Candia, one of the largest islands in the Meditterranean, about 140 miles long and 35 broad. It was at one time a very prosperous and populous island, having a “hundred cities.” The…
Haven — A harbour (Ps. 107:30; Acts 27: 12). The most famous on the coast of Palestine was that of Tyre (Ezek. 27:3). That of Crete, called “Fair Havens,” is mentioned Acts 27:8.
Quicksands — Found only in Acts 27:17, the rendering of the Greek Syrtis. On the north coast of Africa were two localities dangerous to sailors, called the Greater and Lesser Syrtis. The former of these is…
Quicksands, The — more properly THE Syrtis, The, (Acts 27:17) the broad a deep bight on the north African coast between Carthage and Cyrene. There were properly two Syrtes—the eastern or larger, now called the Gulf of…
Ship — No one writer in the whole range of Greek and Roman literature has supplied us with so much information concerning the merchant-ships of the ancients as St. Luke in the narrative of St. Paul’s voyage…
Ships — Early used in foreign commerce by the Phoenicians (Gen. 49:13). Moses (Deut. 28:68) and Job (9:26) make reference to them, and Balaam speaks of the “ships of Chittim” (Num. 24:24). Solomon…
Syrtis, The — (Acts 27:17) in the Revised Version in place of “quicksands” in the Authorized Version. It was the well-known Syrtis Major, the terror of all Mediterranean sailors. “It is a dangerous shallow on the…
Undergirding — (Acts 27:17) [Ship]
Mariners (Sailors) · Perils of — Perils of
Ship · Sails — Sails
Ships · Endangered by: Quicksands — Endangered by: Quicksands

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Acts 27:17

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Acts 27:12-20

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 27:17

Adam Clarke on Acts 27:17

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Acts 27:17

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Acts 27:12-20

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 27:17

Adam Clarke on Acts 27:17

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on Acts 27:17

John Calvin on Acts 27:9-20

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Acts 27:17