Acts 16:27

And the keeper of the prison The word is rendered jailorin 23, and might well be so here (as R. V.), otherwise the English reader supposes the Greek to be varied from this variation of translation.

awaking out of his sleep The word is only found here in N. T., and has the sense of a startled rousing.

drew out his sword We now say rather "drew his sword." He probably slept in such a place that on rising he could observe at a glance whether the prison doors were secure, and had his weapon close at hand so that he might seize and use it on any emergency. He must also have been so near to the open doors before he manifested any design of suicide that the prisoners within could see what he was doing. St Paul out of the dark could observe him before the jailor could see farther than the opened doors.

would have killed himself He knew what his fate would be. See Acts 12:19; and compare Acts 27:42, for the way in which Roman officials must answer with their lives for the escape of prisoners. Suicide under such circumstances would to the jailor's mind present the easiest way out of his difficulties, and the teaching of even the greatest minds both of Greece and Rome was that it was justifiable and under some circumstances praiseworthy. The suicide of Cato (Catonis nobile letum) furnished a constant text for such teaching. (Cp. Cic. Tusc. 1. §§ 9 119, Plat. Apol. 40.)