Acts 27:26

Act 27:26. Εἰς νῆσον, upon an island) This took place presently, Act 27:27.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act_27:26. But (δέ, leading over to the mode of the promised deliverance) we must be cast (ἐκπεσεῖν, see on Act_27:17) on some island. This assurance, made to Paul probably through the appearance just narrated, is verified Act_27:41 ff. But it is lightly, and without reason assigned, conjectured by Zeller that Act_27:21-26 contain a vaticinium post eventum on the part of the author.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 27:26 . εἰς νῆσον δὲ κ . τ . λ .: the words do not form part of the message of the angel as they stand, but they may be considered as forming part of the contents of that message, and the Apostle may himself be regarded as speaking μαντικῶς . With Jüngst’s question “How could Paul know anything of an island?” and his dismissal of the statement here as a vaticinium ex eventu, cf. Weizsäcker, u. s. , see Act 27:21 ; in the section, Act 27:33-36 , which Jüngst defends and refers to his source A, the element of prophecy is equally present, Act 27:34 , as in the verse before us. ἐκπεσεῖν , cf. Act 27:17 , and further instances in Wetstein, see also Act 27:29 ; Act 27:32 , below.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 26. We must be cast upon a certain island.] The angel which gave him this information did not tell him the name of the island. It turned out to be Melita, on which, by the violence of the storm, they were wrecked some days after.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(26) We must be cast upon a certain island.—This had clearly formed part of the special revelation that had been granted to the Apostle. It was more than a conjecture, and the “must” was emphasised as by a prophetic insight into the future.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

26. upon a certain island] Hence it appears that in the vision some details of the manner of their preservation had been made known to St Paul by the divine messenger.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Howbeit, we must be cast upon a certain island. This circumstance is foretold, that when the whole affair should come to pass, it might be manifest that it was not a casual thing, a fortuitous event, a business of chance, but was predetermined by God, made known to the apostle, and predicted by him. This island was Melita; and the fulfilment of this part of the prediction is related in Act 28:1.

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Acts 27:27

act 27:27

act 27:27

act 27:27But when the fourteenth night was come,.... From their setting out from the Fair Havens in Crete, or from the beginning of the storm:

as they were driven up and down in Adria: or "in the Adriatic sea", as the Syriac version renders it: the Adriatic sea is now called by the Turks the gulf of Venice, and the straits of Venice, and sometimes the Venetian sea (i); but formerly the Adriatic sea included more than the Venetian gulf; it took in the Ionian and Sicilian seas, and had its name from the city Adria, a colony of the Tuscans (k). It is called by Ptolomy (l) Hadria, and reckoned a city of the Picenes. Pliny (m) places it near the river Padus, and calls it Atriae, a town of the Tuscans, which had a famous port, from whence the sea was before called Atriatic, which is now Adriatic. Adria, Justin (n) says, which is near to the Illyrian sea, and gave name to the Adriatic sea, is a Grecian city; and from this place the ancestors of Adrian, the Roman emperor, originally came; and all the sea between Illyricum and Italy is called the Adriatic; and from the beginning of it, which is at the city of Venice, unto Garganus, a mountain in Italy, and Dyrrachium, a city of Macedonia, it is 600 miles in length, and its largest breadth is 200, and the least 150, and the mouth of it 60. The other part of the sea, which washes Macedonia and Epirus, is called the Ionian sea. Moreover, this whole sea is called the superior sea, with respect to the Tyrrhenian, which dashes the other shore of Italy, and is called the inferior (o). In this same sea, Josephus (p), the historian, was shipwrecked as he was on a voyage to Rome: his account is this;

"I came to Rome, having gone through many dangers by sea, for our ship being sunk in the middle of Adria, being in number about six hundred, we swam all night; and about break of day, by the providence of God, a ship of Cyrene appeared to us, in which I, and some others, in all eighty, getting before the rest, were received into it, and so got safe to Dicearchia, which the Italians call Puteoli;''

a place afterwards mentioned, where the apostle also arrived. And the sea itself is often, by the poets (q) called Adria, as here, and is represented as a very troublesome sea; and here Paul, and the ship's company, were driven to and fro by the storm,

when about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country: about the middle of the night the mariners thought, by some observations they made, that they were nigh land; or, as it is in the Greek text, "that some country drew near to them"; which well agrees with the language and sense of seafaring persons, to whose sight the land seems to draw near them, or depart from them, when they draw near, or depart from that: the Ethiopic version is, "they thought they should have seen a city"; they had a notion of some city near; and the Arabic version, "they thought to know in what country, or place" they were; and therefore did as follows.

(i) Hyde not. in Peritzol. Itinera Mundi, p. 53, 54. (k) Alex. ab. Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 3. c. 28. (l) Geograph. l. 3. c. 1. (m) Nat. Hist. l. 3. c. 16. (n) Hist ex Trogo, l. 20. c. 1. (o) Pausanias, Eliac. 1. sive, l. 5. p. 337. (p) In Vita sua, sect. 3. p. 905. (q) Horat. Carnin. l. 1. ode 3. & l. 3. ode. 3. 9. Ovid. Trist, l. 1, eleg. 11.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

26 Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island.

Ver. 26. We must be cast] Where our ship being broke, we shall be brought safe to land by an all-powerful hand of God, who delights to help at a dead lift. And this is here foretold, that it may not be thought to happen by hap-hazard.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Howbeit - Nevertheless.

Upon a certain island - Malta. See Act 28:1.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

This was given by Paul as a sign unto them of the truth of what he had said, which, when it came to pass, might induce them to believe the rest; which probably it did, and saved Paul from being killed by the soldiers, Act 27:42. Thus God preserves his people, and delivers Paul, and brings all his safely off at the last, but it is by tempests and storms. It may be they must suffer shipwreck of all they have in this world first. Augusta per angusta. Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God, as St. Paul had taught others, Act 14:22, the experienced to be true himself. There was no truth more experimented than this.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

26. Certain island—The two discriminations are carefully stated. They were not to sail prosperously, but to lose their ship; they were not to reach Italy, but strand on some island. The fulfilment of these signs would be proof of the fulfilment of the promise of preservation of lives. So may lesser lead to greater faith.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

We must be east, etc. (ejkpesein, ver. 17, note). Here St. Paul speaks distinctly by revelation, probably what was told him by the angel. We can see the same purpose here as in all miracles and prophetic utterances, viz. to give God"s credentials to his ambassador as speaking in his Name and by his authority. (Joh_20:31)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

26. In my travels we stopped about half a day at the island of Malta, the Melita here mentioned.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

See notes on verse 21

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

26. εἰς νῆσον δέ τινα δεῖ ἡμᾶς ἐκπεσεῖν, but we must be cast upon a certain island. Hence it appears that in the vision some details of the manner of their preservation had been made known to St Paul by the divine messenger; and more evidence of this is seen in the remainder of the narrative.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

26. δεῖ] Spoken prophetically, as also ver. 31: not perhaps from actual revelation imparted in the vision, but by a power imparted to Paul himself of penetrating the future at this crisis, and announcing the Divine counsel.

Mr. Humphry compares and contrasts the speech of Cæsar to the pilot under similar circumstances: τόλμα κ. δέδιθι μηθέν, ἀλλὰ ἐπιδίδου τῇ τύχῃ τὰ ἱστία καὶ δέχου τὸ πνεῦμα, τῷ πνέοντι πιστεύων, ὅτι Καίσαρα φέρεις καὶ τὴν Καίσαρος τύχην, Plut. de Fortun. Rom. p. 518.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.