After they had hoisted it up, they used cables to help reinforce the ship. Fearing that they would run aground on the Syrtis sand bars, they lowered the sea anchor, and so were driven along.
Parallel Translations
-
After they had hoisted it up, they used cables to help reinforce the ship. Fearing that they would run aground on the Syrtis sand bars, they lowered the sea anchor, and so were driven along.
-
which they toke vp and vsed helpe vndergerdynge the shippe fearynge lest we shuld have fallen into Syrtes and we let doune a vessell and so were caryed.
-
Which they tooke vp and vsed all helpe, vndergirding the ship, fearing least they should haue fallen into Syrtes, and they strake saile, and so were caried.
Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to Acts 27:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Acts 27:29 Fearing that we would run aground on rocky ground, they let go four anchors from the stern, and wished for daylight.
- Acts 27:26 But we must run aground on a certain island.”
- Acts 27:41 But coming to a place where two seas met, they ran the vessel aground. The bow struck and remained immovable, but the stern began to break up by the violence of the waves.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 17 Which when they had taken up, they used…
17 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.
Ver. 17. Undergirding the ship] With trusses or strong ropes, for fear lest she should split.
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.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain They used helps; not only using all instruments fit…
They used helps; not only using all instruments fit for their purpose, but all hands were employed too.
Undergirding the ship, with cables, to keep the sides of the ship the closer and faster together.
Read full note →
The quicksands: there were two quicksands especially famous in Africa, the one the greater, the other the lesser, called Syrtes, because these mountabes of sand under water did seem, as it were, to draw and suck up ships, they were so soon swallowed up by them.
Strake sail; by the word here used, sails and their tackle, or the top-mast, may be understood decks.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Which when they had taken up,.... When they had…
Which when they had taken up,.... When they had got the boat into the ship:
they used helps; the mariners made use of other persons, called in the assistance of the soldiers, and passengers, and prisoners; or for the help of the ship, they made use of cords, chains, and such like things:
Read full note →
undergirding the ship: with cords and ropes, which they drew under the keel of the ship, and so bound both sides of the ship, that it might not split and fall to pieces; which may be what is now called "frapping", and is done by putting large ropes under the keel, and over the gunwale; and is used when a ship by labouring hard in the sea breaks the bolts in her sides, and this keeps her from parting. Horace (z) refers to this use of ropes in tempests, when he says, "Nonne vides ut--sine funibus vix durare carinae possint imperiosius Aequor?" do not you see that without ropes the keels can scarcely endure the more imperious sea? Isidorus (a) makes mention of several sorts of ropes made use of in storms; "spirae", he says, are ropes that are used in tempests, which the mariners after their manner call "curcubae; tormentum" is a long rope in ships, according to the same writer, which reaches from head to stern, by which they are bound faster together:
and fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands: which were on the African coast, here called "Syrtes"; either from the conflux of sand and slime, and such like things, which made them very dangerous for shipping, and being covered with water, could not be seen and guarded against, and especially in a storm; or from their drawing of vessels into them, which they retain, suck in, and swallow up; and such the mariners might know were not far off: there were two very remarkable ones on the coast of Africa, the one is called the greater "Syrtes", the other the lesser (b); the greater was more to the south than the lesser, and also more to the east, and the lesser was to the west: of these "Syrtes", Jerom (c) says, they are sandy places in the great sea very terrible, and to be feared, because they use to draw all into them; they are near the Egyptian sea; the Lybian sea, which washes the African shore, is by Seneca called from them the "Syrtic sea" (d): wherefore,
they strake sail; let down their sails; so read some manuscripts in New College, Oxford; in the Greek text it is, "they let down the vessel"; not the boat they had taken in, of which we read after; nor an anchor, or anchors, which would have been improper in a storm; nor the mast, it can hardly be thought that should be the first thing they should cut down, when they did not cast out the tackling till the third day; the storm was vehement on the first, more vehement on the second, when they lightened the ship, and most vehement on the third, when they cast out the tackling; and as Scheffer (e) observes, the mast is never cut down before the loss of other things; wherefore this is to be understood of letting down the sail yard, and contracting the sails; the Syriac version renders it, "we let down the main sail"; or, "the sail", using the Greek word "Armenon", which signifies "a sail":
and so were driven; about in the sea, wheresoever the winds and waves carried them; or very likely the ship was driven before the wind under her bare poles.
(z) Carmin. l. 1. ode 14. (a) Originum, l. 19. c. 4. p. 163. (b) Vid. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 4. Sallust. in Jugurtha Melam. l. 1. c. 7. (c) De locis Hebraicis, fol. 96. I. (d) De Militia Naval Veterum, l. 1. c. 4. p. 35. (e) Scheffer, ib. p. 297-300.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 17. Undergirding the ship] This method has been…
Verse 17. 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, Ac 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. We are therefore to consider that the apprehension, expressed in Ac 27:17, is to be taken generally: they were afraid of falling into some shoals, not knowing in what part of the sea they then were; for they had seen neither sun nor stars for many days; and they had no compass, and consequently could not tell in what direction they were now driving. It is wrong therefore to mark the course of this voyage, as if the vessel had been driven across the whole of the Mediterranean, down to the African coast, and near to the syrts, or shoal banks; to which there is scarcely any reason to believe she had once approximated during the whole of this dangerous voyage.
Read full note →
Strake sail] Χαλασαντες το σκευος. What this means is difficult to say. As to striking or slackening sail, that is entirely out of the question, in such circumstances as they were; when it is evident they could carry no sail at all, and must have gone under bare poles. Some think that lowering the yards, and taking down the top-mast, is what is intended; but in such a perilous situation this would have been of little service. Others think, letting go their main or sheet anchor, is what is meant; but this seems without foundation, as it would have been foolishness in the extreme to have hoped to ride out the storm in such a sea. Passing by a variety of meanings, I suppose cutting away, or by some means letting down the mast, is the action intended to be expressed here; and this would be the most likely means of saving the vessel from foundering.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Which when they had taken up - When they…
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.
Read full note →
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. The operation of “frapping” a vessel is thus described in Falconer’s Marine Dictionary. “To frap a ship is to pass four or five turns of a large cable-laid rope round the hull or frame of a ship to support her in a great storm, or otherwise, when it is apprehended that she is not strong enough to resist the violent efforts of the sea.” 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, he says, “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.”
Lest they should fall into the quicksands - There were two celebrated syrtes, or quicksands, on the coast of Africa, called the greater and lesser. They were vast beds of sand driven up by the sea, and constantly shifting their position, so that it could not be known certainly where the danger was. As they were constantly changing their position, they could not be accurately laid down in a chart. The sailors were afraid, therefore, that they should be driven on one of those banks of sand, and thus be lost.
Strake sail - Or, rather, lowered or took down the mast, or the yards to which the sails were attached. There has been a great variety of interpretations proposed on this passage. The most probable is that they took down the mast, by cutting or otherwise, as is now done in storms at sea, to save the ship. They were at the mercy of the wind and waves, and their only hope was by taking away their sails.
And so were driven - By the wind and waves. The ship was unmanageable, and they suffered it to be driven before the wind.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain The used helps, under-girding the ship.[4] Perhaps bracing or…
The used helps, under-girding the ship.[4] Perhaps bracing or binding about the vessel with ropes or chains, lest she should be torn asunder. --- Into the quick-sands. Literally, into a syritis, such as are on the coasts of Africa, whither now they were almost driven. --- The let down the sail-yard.[5] This seems to be the sense of these words letting down the vessel. Some translate striking the sail; but others think they were in apprehension for the mainmast. (Witham)
===============================
Read full note →
[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
Accingentes navem, Greek: upozonuntes to ploion, bracing the ship with something.
===============================
[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
Submisso vase, Greek: chalasantes to skeuos. The word Greek: skeuos, has many significations, and may be taken for the ship, or any part of it: here it may signify the main-mast, which they might take down, lest it should be torn away.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain undergirding the ship--that is, passing four or five turns…
undergirding the ship--that is, passing four or five turns of a cable-laid rope round the hull or frame of the ship, to enable her to resist the violence of the seas, an operation rarely resorted to in modern seamanship.
fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands--"be cast ashore" or "stranded upon the Syrtis," the Syrtis Major, a gulf on the African coast, southwest of Crete, the dread of mariners, owing to its dangerous shoals.
Read full note →
they strake--"struck"
sail--This cannot be the meaning, for to strike sail would have driven them directly towards the Syrtis. The meaning must be, "lowered the gear" (appurtenances of every kind); here, perhaps, referring to the lowering of the heavy mainyard with the sail attached to it [SMITH].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 17. Helps—Props placed under loosened timbers to prevent their…
17. Helps—Props placed under loosened timbers to prevent their falling. Or, more properly, the helps may refer to the materials used for undergirding, as follows.
Undergirding—Powerful ropes were wound around the loosening ship, as a person draws a girdle around the waist, in order to bind its loosening timbers fast and prevent its going to pieces. This was an ancient practice, and cables were anciently carried on board as the helps prepared for emergencies. It is sometimes practised in modern times on small craft, and is called “frapping the ship.”
Read full note →
Quicksands—The immense sandbanks on the northern coast of Africa, called on the map Syrtes. These were fatal to ships, and a persistence in its southwest course would have carried the present ship directly thither.
Strake sail—Strake, old English for struck. Ancient ships had from one to three masts. On the principal mast was the large square mainsail, which with the others was now lowered, and they drifted with naked masts.
Driven—By the northeaster.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 17. which when they had taken up] [R. V.…
17. which when they had taken up] [R. V. “and when they had hoisted it up”]. The sense of the verb is thus fully brought out, as it indicates the labour which the work required.
helps] These were strong cables, which were drawn several times round the hulls of vessels, to help in keeping the timbers from parting. The technical term for the operation is “to frap” a vessel, and it is only in modern times that the process has been abandoned.
Read full note →
should fall into the quicksands] [R. V. “lest they should be cast upon the Syrtis”]. The Syrtis Major and Syrtis Minor are two quicksands on the north coast of Africa, of which the Syrtis Major lies most to the east, between Tripoli and Barca, and was the shoal on to which the sailors at this time were afraid of being driven.
strake sail] [R. V. “lowered the gear”] The noun is a very general one, signifying “tackling” or “implements” of any kind. What was done was to lower everything from aloft that could be dispensed with. They could not have struck sail, because to do so would be to give up all the chance which remained of using the wind to avoid the Syrtis, which was what they desired to do.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (17) They used helps, undergirding the ship.—The word “helps”…
(17) They used helps, undergirding the ship.—The word “helps” answers to what we should call “precautions,” or “remedial measures.” The process described, technically known as “frapping,” consisted in carrying a strong cable several times round the ship from stem to stern, so as to keep the planks from starting, and guard against the consequent leakage. The practice has always been a common one. Thucydides (i. 29) mentions the Corcyreans as having recourse to it. The Russian ships taken in the Tagus in 1808 were kept together in this manner in consequence of their age and unsound condition (Arnold, on Thuc. i. 29). We have probably an allusion to it in the lines of Horace (Od. i. 14).
“Ac sine funibus,
Read full note →
Vix durare carinæ,
Possint imperiosius
Æquor.”
[“And scarcely can our keels keep sound,
E’en with the ropes that gird them round,
Against the imperious wave.”]
Fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands.—Literally, the Syrtis. There were two quicksands of this name, the Greater and the Lesser, on the north coast of Africa. The former lay just to the west of Cyrene, the latter further west, and nearer Carthage. St. Luke probably speaks of the Greater. These quicksands were the terror of all Mediterranean sailors (Jos. Wars, ii. 16, § 4). A fine description of them is given by the Evangelist’s namesake, Lucan, in his Pharsalia (ix. 303-310):
“When Nature gave the world its primal form,
She left the Syrtes neither sea nor land.
There neither sinks the shore and welcomes in
The deep sea’s waters, nor the coast can hold
Its own against the waves, and none can track
Their way within the uncertain region’s bounds.
The seas are marred with shallows, and the land
Is broken by the billows, and the surge
Beats on the shore loud-sounding. Nature leaves
This spot accursed, and of use to none.”
Comp. Milton’s Paradise Lost, ii. 939:
“Quenched in a boggy Syrtes, neither sea
Nor good dry land.
The voyagers knew that the gale was bearing them in that direction, and did not dare to let the ship sail on full before the wind any longer.
Strake sail.—The English fails to give the sense of the original. Had they struck sail altogether the ship would simply have drifted in the very direction which they were anxious to avoid. Some sail was absolutely necessary to keep the ship steady. What is meant is that they “lowered the ship’s gear,” the spars and rigging, and especially, perhaps, the heavy yard and ropes which the ancient ships carried, and which would, in such a gale, make the ship top-heavy.
And so were driven.—Better, thus—i.e., in this state, undergirded and with storm-sails set. They aimed at sailing as close as possible to the wind, making for the north-west, so as to avoid the Syrtes.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And when they had hoisted it up for which…
And when they had hoisted it up for which when they had taken up, A.V.; be cast upon the Syrtis for fall into the quick-sands, A.V.; they lowered the gear for strake sail, A.V.. Helps ; bohqeiaiv, in the New Testament only here and ntev, Heb_4:16; but frequent in medical language, for "bandages, "ligaments," "muscles," and all kinds of supports both artificial and natural, and generally to medical aid. Undergirding the ship; uJpozwnnu only here in the Bible; but found, as well as its derivative uJpozwma, in classical Greek, in the same sense as it has here. In medical language it is used of certain membranes which "under gird" and so strengthen and hold together certain parts of the human body, and specially was applied to the pleura. As regards the nautical sense in which St. Luke here uses the word, Dean Howson, in his excellent chapter (23.) on the "Navigation and Ships of the Ancients," writes as follows: consequence of the extreme danger to which the ships of the ancients were exposed from leaking, it was customary to take to sea, as part of their ordinary gear, uJpozwmata, undergirders, which were simply ropes for passing round the hull of the ship, and thus preventing the planks from starting;" and he adds in a note that "within the last twenty years (in 1837) marble tables had been dug up in the Piraeus, containing a list of Athenian ships and an inventory of their tackle, and that they all carried, as part of their "hanging gear," uJpozwmata. Another great ship described by Athenaeus carried twelve such. The operation of undergirding is still occasionally performed, and is called by seamen "frap- ping." The German word is umgurten (Howson). Among ether recent examples (Howson, p. 33) the Albion was frapped with iron chains after the battle of Navarino. Cast upon the Syrtis. The wind was driving them straight toward the Syrtis Major, "the Goodwin Sands of the Mediterranean" (Farrar), and another twenty-four hours of such a gale might bring them there. The Syrtis Major was a wide gulf off the northern coast of Africa, now the Gulf of Sidra, lying between Tunis and Tripoli, considered very dangerous from its rocks and shoals. Be east upon (ejkpeswsi). The verb ejkpiptein is the classical word (Homer, Herodotus, Euripides) for being driven or thrown ashore, and is used in this sense in vers. 26, 29 of this chapter, and in a slightly different sense in ver. 32. They lowered the gear (calasantev). Skeuov is a very common word, variously rendered "goods," "stuff," "vessel," according to the material to which it is applied. (Luk_8:16 Luk_17:31, etc.) In the LXX it is used of agricultural implements, (1Sa_13:20, 1Sa_13:21) of weapons of hunting, (Gen_27:3) of household furniture, (Gen_31:37) weapons of war, (Deu_1:41) instruments of music. (2Ch_5:13) This is the only passage in the Bible where it is used in its technical sense as a nautical term. In classical Greek, when applied generally to ships, it means the whole tackling, sails, ropes, yards, stores, engines, etc. The meaning, of course, is narrowed when applied to some particular part of the ship. Here, on the whole, it seems to mean the "great yard," or, if that had been already lowered, the heavy "head-gear," ropes, pulleys, and the like, which, under the circumstances, would contribute to make the ship roll and be unsteady. The word rendered "lowered" is calasai. It is rendered "let down" in Mar_2:4; Luk_5:4, Luk_5:5; Act_9:25; 2Co_11:33; and ver. 30 of this chapter (A.V.). In the R.V. it is sometimes rendered "let down" and sometimes "lowered." In the LXX it is used in the sense of "spreading" a sail, (Isa_33:23) which would be equivalent to "let down," if the sails were reefed at the top of the mast; and of "letting down". (Jer_38:6) The R.V., therefore, is correct. The object of what they did was to enable the ship to go as near the wind as possible, and with as little straining and rolling as possible. The operation is called by sailors "lying to." Were driven (see ver. 15).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain 17. “Which lifting up, they use helps, undergirding the…
17. “Which lifting up, they use helps, undergirding the ship,” i. e., under the temporary protection of the island Clauda, with the greatest effort and peril they manage to get ropes around the ship, tying it up tight, lest it break all to pieces in the violence of the storm. During the storm above mentioned on the Atlantic Ocean our ship would crack loud as thunder, impressing me that she was breaking in two in the middle. “Fearing lest they may fall into quicksands, lowering the gear, they were thus borne along,
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain See notes on verse 14
See notes on verse 14
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.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain be cast upon the Syrtis.
fall
be cast upon the Syrtis.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 they had hoisted the lifeboat up
they had hoisted the lifeboat up
"they had lifted up the lifeboat" or "they had pulled the lifeboat aboard the ship"
Read full note →
they used its ropes to bind the hull of the ship
The "hull" is the body of the ship. They tied ropes around it so that the ship would not come apart during the storm.
sandbars of Syrtis
Sandbars are very shallow areas in the sea where ships can get stuck in the sand. Syrtis is located on the coast of Libya, northern Africa. (See: How to Translate Names)
they lowered the sea anchor
They put the ship's anchor in the water in order to slow down where the wind would blow them.
anchor
An anchor is a heavy object attached to a rope that is secured to the boat. The anchor is tossed into the water and sinks to the bottom of the sea keeping the ship from drifting about. See how you translated this in Acts 27:13.
were driven along
This can be stated in active form. AT: "had to go in whatever direction the wind blew us" (See: Active or Passive)
We took such a violent battering by the storm
This can be stated in active form. AT: "The wind blew us roughly back and forth that all of us were badly battered and bruised by the storm" (See: Active or Passive)
they began throwing the cargo overboard
"they" is the sailors. This is done to lighten the weight of the ship in an effort to prevent the ship from sinking.
cargo
Cargo is something that a person transports from one place to another by boat. See how you translated this in Acts 27:10. AT: "goods on the ship"
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 27:17 Binding ropes around the ship’s hull (called frapping…
27:17 Binding ropes around the ship’s hull (called frapping in nautical terms) was intended to strengthen it against the tremendous pressure of the storm. • Syrtis refers to the shallow bays filled with sandbars off the coast of North Africa west of Cyrene.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.