ACTS 27:17 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“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.”
When the men had hoisted it aboard, they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together. Fearing that they would run aground on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and let the ship be driven along. - The crew takes two emergency measures: (1) hoisting the lifeboat aboard to prevent it being lost, and (2) 'passing ropes under the ship' (hypozōnnymi, hypozōnnymi-'undergird,' a technical nautical term) to strengthen the hull against breaking apart. Fearing the 'sandbars of Syrtis' (Syrtis, Syrtis-notorious shallows off Libya), they 'lower the sea anchor' (chalao skeuos, chalao skeuos-'let down a drift anchor') to slow drift. Luke's technical precision has been validated by maritime historians.
Church Fathers on Acts 27:17
And running under a certain island which is called Clauda, we had much work to come by the boat: 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. And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship; and the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship. And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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