Acts 27:41

περιπ. δὲ εἰς τ. διθ.: Luke 10:30; James 1:2, with the dative, as generally, but Arrian, περιπίπτειν εἰς τόπους πετρώδεις (Wetstein), 2Ma 6:13; 2Ma 10:4, Polyb., i., 37, i. εἰς τόπον διθ.: a bank or a ridge between two seas, which has sea on both sides; cf. Dio Chrys., 5, p. 83, where reference is made to the dangers of the sea: βραχέα καὶ διθάλαττα καὶ ταινίαι μακραὶ … ἄπορον … παρέχουσι τὸ πέλαγος (Wetstein and Blass). Breusing, Vars and Goerne (so Blass) take the words εἰς τ. δ. to refer to a hidden ridge beneath the water, and the aorist περιπ. in contrast to the imperfect κατεῖχον seems to favour this, as expressing that they came upon a τόπ. διθ. unexpectedly, cf. Page's note and Ramsay's translation, “chancing on a bank between two seas”. But the latter writer adds that the περιπ. does not imply want of purpose, as ἐπώκειλαν shows, and the meaning is that while at anchor they could not see the exact character of the spot (see also C. and H.), but as they approached they found that they had lighted on the channel not more than a hundred yards in breadth between the island of Salmonetta and the mainland; this might very properly be called “a place where two seas meet,” A. and R.V., as it formed a communication between the sea within the bay and the sea outside. The adjective διθ. is as applicable to water uniting two seas, e.g., the Bosphorus, cf. Strabo, ii., 5, 12 (quoted by Smith), as to land like the Isthmus of Corinth; see J. Smith, pp. 142, 178, 4th edit., Hackett, C. and H., Lumby, Rendall, and note in Speaker's Commentary. Breusing, p. 204, Goerne, Wendt (1899) take it of St. Paul's Bank which lies just in front of St. Paul's Bay, so too Vars, p; 258, for the same view and its support. ἐπώκειλαν τὴν ναῦν : “they ran the vessel aground” (cf. J. Smith, p. 143, 4th edit.), see critical note. ἐποκέλλω and ἐπικέλλω are both used in classical Greek, but the latter is “altogether poetical” (Blass), and more usually intransitive. In Homer, Odys., ix., 148, however, we have νῆας … ἐπικέλσαι, and 546, νῆα ἐκέλσαμεν (cf. adpcllere navem). Blass, Philology of the Gospels, p. 186, sees in this sudden introduction of the phrase ἐπώκειλαν τὴν ναῦν an indication that St. Luke had read his Homer, since in no other passage in the N.T. do we find the obsolete word ἡ ναῦς, the commoner expression τὸ πλοῖον occurring in this chapter no less than thirteen times. R.V. renders τὴν ναῦν “the vessel.” all other E.V [423] “the ship,” and it has been thought that the word is so changed here because that which had hitherto been a πλοῖον capable of sailing was now reduced to a mere hulk (Wordsworth, Humphry). καὶ ἡ μὲν πρώρα ἐρείσασα : “and the prow struck,” R.V., Ramsay, this is accounted for by the peculiar nature of the bottom in St. Paul's Bay, see J. Smith, Ramsay, Hackett, Alford, “a bottom of mud graduating into tenacious clay, into which the fore part would fix itself, and be held fast while the stern was exposed to the force of the waves”. For the verb in intransitive sense as here cf. Proverbs 4:4, cf. Æneid, v., 206 (Wetstein). ἀσάλ.: only in Hebrews 12:8 in N.T., but σαλεύειν several times in Luke, in Gospel and Acts; in classical Greek and LXX; adverb - τως, Polyb., ix., 9, 8, cf. also Sir 29:18. ἡ δὲ πρύμνα ἐλύετο ὑπὸ τῆς βίας : “but the stern began to break up,” R.V., marking the imperfect as distinguished from aorist ἔμεινεν, Blass, Gram., p. 186; Æn., x., 303, Cic., Att., xv., 11 (Wetstein). βίας τῶν κυμ., see critical note, βία : four times in Acts, see on Acts 5:26, nowhere else in N.T., but frequent in LXX, Vulgate, “a vi maris,” which Breusing, p. 203, strongly endorses.

[423] English Version.