Acts 27:42

And the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
And	δὲ de	G1161	but · conjunction
soldiers’	στρατιωτῶν stratiōtōn	G4757	a camper-out · noun — genitive plural masculine
counsel	βουλὴ boulē	G1012	volition · noun — nominative singular feminine
was	ἐγένετο egeneto	G1096	to cause to be ("gen"-erate) · verb — second aorist middle deponent indicative, 3rd person singular
to	ἵνα ina	G2443	compare G3588 (ὁ)) · conjunction
kill	ἀποκτείνωσιν, apokteinōsin	G615	to kill outright · verb — aorist active subjunctive, 3rd person plural
prisoners	δεσμώτας desmōtas	G1202	(passively) a captive · noun — accusative plural masculine
lest	μή mē	G3361	(adverb) not · particle — negative
any	τις tis	G5100	some or any person or object · indefinite pronoun — nominative singular masculine
out	ἐκκολυμβήσας ekkolumbēsas	G1579	to escape by swimming · verb — aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine
escape	διαφύγῃ. diaphugē	G1309	to flee through · verb — second aorist active subjunctive, 3rd person singular

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

Psalms 74:20 Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
Proverbs 12:10 A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.
Ecclesiastes 9:3 This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is fu…
Mark 15:15-20 And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.
Luke 23:40-41 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
Acts 12:19 And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not, he examined the keepers, and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went d…

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Acts 27:21–end

We have here the issue of the distress of Paul and his fellow-travellers; they escaped with their lives and that was all, and that was for Paul's sake. We are here told (Act 27:37) what number there were on board - mariners, merchants, soldiers, prisoners, and other passengers, in all two hundred and seventy-six souls; this is taken notice of to make us the more concerned for them in reading the story, that they were such a considerable number, whose lives were now in the utmost jeopardy, and one Paul among them worth more than all the rest. We left them in despair, giving up themselves for gone. Whether they called every man on his God, as Jonah's mariners did, we are not told; it is well i…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 27:42

the soldiers' counsel was to hill the prisoners, lest any . . . should escape--Roman cruelty, which made the keepers answerable for their prisoners with their own lives, is here reflected in this cruel proposal.

Adam Clarke on Acts 27:42

The soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners - What blood-thirsty, cowardly villains must these have been! Though, through the providence of God, those poor men had escaped a watery grave, and had borne all the anxiety and distresses of this disastrous voyage, as well as the others, now that there is a likelihood of all getting safe to land that could swim, lest these should swim to shore, and so escape, those men, whose trade was in human blood, desired to have them massacred! We have not many traits in the histories of the most barbarous nations that can be a proper counterpart to this quintessence of humano-diabolic cruelty.

John Gill on 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.

The Church Fathers

Again the devil tries to hinder the prophecy, and they had a mind to kill some, but the centurion suffered them not, that he might save Paul, so much was the centurion attached to him.
— John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 53

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.
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…
Mariners (Sailors) · Perils of — Perils of
Ships · Were often wrecked — Were often wrecked
Soldiers · Perform escort duty — Perform escort duty

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 27:42

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Acts 27:21–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 27:42

Adam Clarke on Acts 27:42

John Gill on Acts 27:42

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Acts 27:42

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Acts 27:21–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 27:42

Adam Clarke on Acts 27:42

John Gill on Acts 27:42

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Acts 27:33–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Acts 27:42-44