Acts 27:42
What does Acts 27:42 mean?
A plain-English look at Acts 27:42 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Acts 27:42 means
The soldiers propose killing the prisoners lest any swim away and escape. Roman discipline held guards liable for escaped prisoners. Their counsel is brutal but standard. In crisis, institutional fear can overrule compassion. The verse exposes another human threat to life, beyond wind and wave: policy-driven violence. It sets the stage for a crucial choice by the centurion. God’s preservation of Paul will once again restrain wrongful intent and channel authority toward mercy, demonstrating that divine providence governs both natural and human dangers.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000And the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape.
KJV
King James Version · 1611And the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901And the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Then the armed men were for putting the prisoners to death, so that no one would get away by swimming.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862And the soldiers' counsel was that they should kill the prisoners, lest any one having swam out should escape,
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And the soldiers' counsel was that they should kill the prisoners, lest any of them, swimming out should escape.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890And [the] counsel of the soldiers was that they should kill the prisoners, lest any one should swim off and escape.
Context
With the ship breaking apart, a new danger appears: soldiers intend to execute prisoners to avoid repercussions. This plan would nullify God’s promise if carried out. The next verse will show the centurion, wanting to save Paul, preventing the slaughter and directing an orderly abandonment of ship. This intervention aligns human authority with God’s word, ensuring the outcome declared by Paul comes to pass.
v.41But lighting upon a place where two seas met, they ran the vessel aground; and the foreship struck and remained unmoveable, but the stern began to break up by the violence of the waves.
v.42This passage
v.43But the centurion, desiring to save Paul, stayed them from their purpose; and commanded that they who could swim should cast themselves overboard, and get first to the land;
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Psalms 74:20
Have respect unto the covenant; For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.
- Luke 23:40
But the other answered, and rebuking him said, Dost thou not even fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
- Ecclesiastes 9:3
This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
- Mark 15:15
And Pilate, wishing to content the multitude, released unto them Barabbas, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.
- Acts 12:19
And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not, he examined the guards, and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judæa to Cæsarea, and tarried there.
- Proverbs 12:10
A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast; But the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.
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