Discovery BoxActs 27:42-44 
Context27:42 Now the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners 1 so that none of them would escape by swimming away. 2 27:43 But the centurion, 3 wanting to save Paul’s life, 4 prevented them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land, 5 27:44 and the rest were to follow, 6 some on planks 7 and some on pieces of the ship. 8 And in this way 9 all were brought safely to land.
1 sn The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners. The issue here was not cruelty, but that the soldiers would be legally responsible if any prisoners escaped and would suffer punishment themselves. So they were planning to do this as an act of self-preservation. See Acts 16:27 for a similar incident.
2 tn The participle ἐκκολυμβήσας (ekkolumbhsa") has been taken instrumentally.
3 sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.
4 tn Or “wanting to rescue Paul.”
sn Thanks to the centurion who wanted to save Paul’s life, Paul was once more rescued from a potential human threat.
5 tn BDAG 347 s.v. I. ἔξειμι has “ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν get to land Ac 27:43.”
6 tn The words “were to follow” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. They must be supplied to clarify the sense in contemporary English.
7 tn Or “boards” according to BDAG 913 s.v. σανίς.
8 tn Grk “on pieces from the ship”; that is, pieces of wreckage from the ship.
sn Both the planks and pieces of the ship were for the weak or nonswimmers. The whole scene is a historical metaphor representing how listening to Paul and his message could save people.
9 tn Grk “And in this way it happened that.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
