translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: ACT

label: NET study note

text: The last “ we ” section in Acts begins here and extends to 28:16 (the previous one ended at 21:18 ).


text: Sail to Italy. This voyage with its difficulty serves to show how God protected Paul on his long journey to Rome. From the perspective of someone in Palestine, this may well picture “the end of the earth” quite literally (cf. Acts 1:8 ).


text: See the note on the word centurion in 10:1 .


text: Adramyttium was a seaport in Mysia on the western coast of Asia Minor.


text: A Macedonian. The city of Thessalonica (modern Salonica) was in the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.


text: Sidon is another seaport 75 mi (120 km) north of Caesarea. map For location see Map1-A1 ; JP3-F3 ; JP4-F3 .


text: Pamphylia was a province in the southern part of Asia Minor; it was west of Cilicia (see BDAG 753 s.v. Παμφυλία ).


text: Myra was a city on the southern coast of Lycia in Asia Minor. This journey from Sidon (v. 3 ) was 440 mi (700 km) and took about 15 days.


text: Lycia was the name of a peninsula on the southern coast of Asia Minor between Caria and Pamphylia.


text: Alexandria (modern Alexandria) was a great city of northern Egypt which was a center for grain trade to Rome. Therefore this type of travel connection was common at the time. For a winter journey (considered hazardous) there were special bonuses and insurance provided (Suetonius, Life of Claudius 18.1-2).


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


text: 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.


text: Lasea was a city on the southern coast of the island of Crete . This was about 60 mi (96 km) farther.


text: The fast refers to the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. It was now into October and the dangerous winter winds would soon occur (Suetonius, Life of Claudius 18; Josephus, J. W. 1.14.2-3 [1.279-281]).


text: Phoenix was a seaport on the southern coast of the island of Crete . This was about 30 mi (48 km) further west.


text: Or called Euraquilo (the actual name of the wind, a sailor’s term which was a combination of Greek and Latin). According to Strabo ( Geography 1.2.21), this was a violent northern wind.


text: Caught in the violent wind, the ship was driven along . They were now out of control, at the mercy of the wind and sea.


text: Cauda . This island was located south of Crete, about 23 mi (36 km) from where they began. There are various ways to spell the island’s name (e.g., Clauda , BDAG 546 s.v. Κλαῦδα ).


text: The ship ’ s boat was a small rowboat, normally towed behind a ship in good weather rather than stowed on board. It was used for landings, to maneuver the ship for tacking, and to lay anchors (not a lifeboat in the modern sense, although it could have served as a means of escape for some of the sailors; see v. 30 ). See L. Casson, Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World , 248f.


text: The Adriatic Sea. They were now somewhere between Crete and Malta.


text: 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).


text: Here the depth was about 90 ft (27 m).


text: See the note on the word centurion in 10:1 .


text: The pronoun you is plural in Greek.


text: The soldiers cut the ropes. The centurion and the soldiers were now following Paul’s advice by cutting the ropes to prevent the sailors from escaping.


text: This is a parenthetical note by the author.


text: A beach would refer to a smooth sandy beach suitable for landing.


text: 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.