Acts 27:7

27:7 We sailed slowly¹ for many days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus.² Because the wind prevented us from going any farther,³ we sailed under the lee⁴ of Crete off Salmone.⁵

Acts 27:28

27:28 They took soundings⁶ and found the water was twenty fathoms⁷ deep; when they had sailed a little farther⁸ they took soundings again and found it was fifteen fathoms⁹ deep.

¹tn The participle βραδυπλοοῦντες (braduploounte") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

²sn Cnidus was the name of a peninsula on the southwestern coast of Asia Minor. This was about 130 mi (210 km) from Myra.

³tn This genitive absolute construction with προσεῶντος (prosewnto") has been translated as a causal adverbial participle. L&N 13.139 translates the phrase μὴ προσεῶντος ἡμᾶς τοῦ ἀνέμου (mh prosewnto" Jhma" tou anemou) as “the wind would not let us go any farther.”

⁴tn BDAG 1040 s.v. ὑποπλέω states, “sail under the lee of an island, i.e. in such a way that the island protects the ship fr. the wind Ac 27:4, 7.”

⁵sn Salmone was the name of a promontory on the northeastern corner of the island of Crete. This was about 100 mi (160 km) farther along.

⁶tn Grk “Heaving the lead, they found.” The participle βολίσαντες (bolisante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. See also BDAG 180 s.v. βολίζω. Although the term is used twice in this verse (and thus is technically not a NT hapax legomenon), it occurs nowhere else in the NT.

⁷sn A fathom is about 6 feet or just under 2 meters (originally the length of a man’s outstretched arms). This was a nautical technical term for measuring the depth of water. Here it was about 120 ft (36 m).

⁸tn L&N 15.12, “βραχὺ δὲ διαστήσαντες ‘when they had gone a little farther’ Ac 27:28.”

⁹sn Here the depth was about 90 ft (27 m).