Acts 27:17
in Acts 27After hoisting it up, the crew used ropes to undergird the ship. And fearing that they would run aground on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and were driven along.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and when they had hoisted it up, they used helps, under-girding the ship; and, fearing lest they should be cast upon the Syrtis, they lowered the gear, and so were driven.
KJV
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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This verse in Acts 27
Commentary
11 notes on this verseThey 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."
This site's exposition
gentle south wind began to blow
on Acts 27:13-17
Soon after a gentle south wind, a cyclone called the Northeaster swept down from Crete's mountains, and the ship was driven. The crew used ropes to undergird the ship and lowered the sea anchor, and Luke's vocabulary is the working sailor's.
This site's exposition
undergird the ship
Adam Clarke explains the undergirding as frapping, passing cables under the hull and tightening them on deck to keep the planks from starting. Seamen still did it in his day. The sandbars of Syrtis lay off Libya to the southwest, and a northeast wind was driving the ship toward them.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
We could scarcely obtain the lifeboat. After it was taken, they used auxiliary ropes. The lifeboat or Catascopos is a light boat, made of wicker and covered with rawhide. It is called in Greek from the act of viewing, because sailors or pirates on such …
And the south wind blowing softly, they thought they had obtained their purpose, etc., we could scarcely retain the boat. We wrote in the first book, following Isidore, that the boat was a light vessel, woven from wicker and covered with rawhide; but subsequently, upon …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
), and were going into it, having agreed among themselves, when they were in to make straight for the shore. The treacherous seamen are like the treacherous shepherd, who flees when he sees the danger coming, and there is most need of his help, John x. Thus true is that of Solomon, Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth or a foot out of joint.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Which when they had taken up,....
But see the folly of the children of this world, they can be thus prodigal of their goods when it is for the saving of their lives, and yet how sparing of them in works of piety and charity, and in suffering for Christ, though they are told by eternal Truth itself that those shall be recompensed more than a thousand fold in the resurrection of the just.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
This might be of use in any exigence, and therefore they made hard shift to get it into the ship to them. (4.) They used means which were proper enough in those times, when the art of navigation was far short of the perfection it is now come to; they undergirded the ship,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Which when they had taken up - When they had raised up the boat into the ship, so as to secure it. They used helps - They used ropes, cables, stays, or chains, for the purpose of securing the ship. The danger was that the ship would be destroyed, and they therefore made use of such aids as would prevent its loss. Undergirding the ship - The ancients were accustomed to pass cables or strong ropes around a vessel to keep the planks from springing or starting by the action of the sea. This is now called “frapping” a vessel.
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 her passage from India to the Cape of Good Hope. The quicksands - Εις την συρτιν, Into the syrt. There were two famous syrts, or quicksands, on the African coast; one called the syrtis major, lying near the coast of Cyrene; and the other, the syrtis minor, not far from Tripoli. Both these, like our Goodwin Sands, were proverbial for their multitude of ship-wrecks. From the direction in which this vessel was driven, it is not at all likely that they were in danger of drifting on any of these syrts, as the vessel does not appear to have been driven near the African coast through the whole of her voyage. And as to what is said, Act 27:27, of their being driven up and down in Adria, διαφερομενων εν τῳ Αδριᾳ, it must mean their being tossed about near to Sicily, the sea of which is called Adria, according to the old Scholiast upon Dionysius’s Periegesis, ver. 85: το Σικελικον τουτο το πελαγος Αδριαν καλουσι· they call this Sicilian sea, Adria. […]
The words behind it
19 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ἣν | hen | which | G3739 → | 1405 times |
| ἄραντες | arantes | having taken up | G142 → | 100 times |
| βοηθείαις | boetheiais | supports | G996 → | |
| ἐχρῶντο | echronto | they were using | G5530 → | |
| ὑποζωννύντες | hupozonnuntes | undergirding | G5269 → | |
| τὸ | to | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| πλοῖον· | ploion | ship; | G4143 → | 67 times |
| φοβούμενοί | phoboumenoi | Fearing | G5399 → | 95 times |
| τε | te | then | G5037 → | 213 times |
| μὴ | me | lest | G3361 → | 1066 times |
| εἰς | eis | into | G1519 → | 1755 times |
| τὴν | ten | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| Σύρτιν | surtin | sandbars of Syrtis | G4950 → | |
| ἐκπέσωσιν | ekpesosin | they may fall | G1601 → | 10 times |
| χαλάσαντες | chalasantes | having lowered | G5465 → | 7 times |
| τὸ | to | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| σκεῦος, | skeuos | gear, | G4632 → | 23 times |
| οὕτως | houtos | thus | G3779 → | 208 times |
| ἐφέροντο. | epheronto | they were driven along. | G5342 → | 66 times |
ἣνwhich
henG3739 →1405 times
ἄραντεςhaving taken up
arantesG142 →100 times
βοηθείαιςsupports
boetheiaisG996 →
ἐχρῶντοthey were using
echrontoG5530 →
ὑποζωννύντεςundergirding
hupozonnuntesG5269 →
τὸthe
toG3588 →19766 times
πλοῖον·ship;
ploionG4143 →67 times
φοβούμενοίFearing
phoboumenoiG5399 →95 times
τεthen
teG5037 →213 times
μὴlest
meG3361 →1066 times
εἰςinto
eisG1519 →1755 times
τὴνthe
tenG3588 →19766 times
Σύρτινsandbars of Syrtis
surtinG4950 →
ἐκπέσωσινthey may fall
ekpesosinG1601 →10 times
χαλάσαντεςhaving lowered
chalasantesG5465 →7 times
τὸthe
toG3588 →19766 times
σκεῦος,gear,
skeuosG4632 →23 times
οὕτωςthus
houtosG3779 →208 times
ἐφέροντο.they were driven along.
epherontoG5342 →66 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Acts 27:26However, we must run aground on some island.”
it leads to
- Acts 28:1
Once we were safely ashore, we learned that the island was called Malta.
- Acts 28:1
Through
Acts 27:41But the vessel struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was being broken up by the pounding of the waves.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 27:26
Your oarsmen have brought you onto the high seas, but the east wind will shatter you in the heart of the sea.
- 2 Corinthians 11:25–26
Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.
- Ezekiel 27:34
Now you are shattered by the seas in the depths of the waters; your merchandise and the people among you have gone down with you.
- 1 Kings 22:48
Jehoshaphat built ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they never set sail, because they were wrecked at Ezion-geber.
- 2 Chronicles 20:37
Then Eliezer son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, “Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah, the LORD has destroyed your works.” So the ships were wrecked and were unable to sail…
- Ezekiel 27:26
Through
Acts 27:29Fearing that we would run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daybreak.
it leads to
- Hebrews 6:19
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,
- Acts 27:40–41
Cutting away the anchors, they left them in the sea as they loosened the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach.
- Hebrews 6:19
Where this verse is studied
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About Acts
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Acts; Bede, Retractions on Acts; James Smith, The Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.