1007 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then fearing lest they should have fallen upon rocks,.... Or rough places, as shelves, rocks, or sands, as they might well fear, when the water shallowed so fast, from 20 to 15 fathoms: they cast four anchors out of the stern; or hinder part of the ship; the Ethiopic version calls it, "the head of the ship": and adds, "where the governor sat";...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship,.... To save their lives, concluding that it was in the utmost danger, and that it would quickly, notwithstanding the anchors cast out, break away, and fall upon the rocks, and split to pieces: when they had let down the boat into the sea; which before they had taken up into the ship, Acts...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Paul said to the centurion, and to the soldiers,.... He did not direct his speech to the governor and owner of the ship, who very likely, being sensible of the danger, were in the scheme with the mariners, and at the head of them; but to Julius the centurion, and the soldiers under him, who having no knowledge of maritime affairs, were not...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat,.... With which it had been fastened to the sides of the ship, and by which the mariners were letting it down, in order to get into it, and go off: and let her fall off; from the sides of the ship into the sea, and so prevented the shipmen quitting the ship; for now they gave more credit to Paul than...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And while the day was coming on,.... Between midnight and break of day: Paul besought them all to take meat; to sit down and eat a meal together: saying, this day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried; or have been waiting for, or expecting; that is, as the Arabic version expresses it, a shipwreck; for fourteen days past, ever since the storm...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wherefore I pray you to take some meat,.... To sit down composedly, and eat meat cheerfully and freely: for this is for your health; the Alexandrian copy reads, "for our health"; it was for the health of them all, that they might be better able to bear the shock and fatigue of the shipwreck, and be in better spirits, and in a better capacity to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when he had thus spoken he took bread,.... A piece of bread, of common bread, into his hands; for this could never be the eucharist, or Lord's supper, which the apostle now celebrated, as some have suggested, but such sort of bread that seafaring men commonly eat: mention is before made of "meat" or "food", which the apostle entreated them to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then were they all of good cheer,.... Encouraged by the apostle's words and example: and they all took some meat; and made a comfortable meal, which they had not done for fourteen days past.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And we were in all in the ship,.... Reckoning the master and owner of the ship, and the centurion and the soldiers, and the apostle and his company, with whatsoever passengers there might be: two hundred and threescore and sixteen souls; the Alexandrian copy reads, "two hundred seventy and five"; and the Ethiopic version, "two hundred and six"....
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when they had eaten enough,....] Were satisfied, having eaten a full meal: they lightened the ship; of its burden, that it might the better carry them to the shore, and that by the following method: and cast out the wheat into the sea; which seems to have been part of the ship's provision; or one part of their lading, which they brought from...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when it was day they knew not the land,.... What place it was, or the name of it: but they discovered a certain creek with a shore; a gulf or bay, with a shore near it; the Ethiopic version explains it, an arm of the sea, where was a port, where they thought they could secure themselves, or get ashore: into which they were minded, if it were...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when they had taken up the anchors,.... The four anchors they cast out of the stern, Acts 27:29 or "when they had cut the anchors", as the Syriac and Arabic versions render it; that is, had cut the cables to which the anchors were fastened: they committed themselves unto the sea; or left them, the anchors, in the sea; or committed the ship to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And falling into a place where two seas met,.... An "isthmus", on each side of which the sea ran; and which the inhabitants of Malta, as Beza says, show to this day, and call it, "la Cala de San Paulo", or the Descent of Saint Paul. The meeting of these two seas might occasion a great rippling in the sea like to a large eddy, or counter tide; and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners,.... Paul, and the rest: this they had not only an inclination to, but they declared it, and gave it as their opinion, and what they thought advisable to be done directly: lest any of them should swim out and escape; and they should be accountable for them: but this was dreadful wickedness in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But the centurion, willing to save Paul,.... Not only because he was a Roman citizen, but because he perceived he was some extraordinary person; and chiefly because he was moved there unto by a superior influence, that Satan might not have his end; and that the will of God might be fulfilled, that he should go to Rome, and there bear a testimony...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the rest, some on boards,.... Doors, tables, planks, or any such like things: and some on broken pieces of the ship; or what came from it, as masts, beams, c. and so it came to pass that they escaped all safe to land not one was lost, as Paul had foretold. And so it will be with the saints after their afflicted state in this life, who are safe...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when they were escaped,.... From the danger they were exposed to by shipwreck, and were got safe to land; this is omitted in the Syriac version: then they knew that the island was called Melita; an island toward the African shore, where it is placed both by Pliny (g), and Ptolomy (h); in which, the latter says, was the city Melita: it lies...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the barbarous people showed us no little kindness,.... The inhabitants of this island are called barbarians, not from the country of Barbary, near to which they were; nor so much on account of their manners, for, though Heathens, they were a civil and cultivated people, being, as appears from the name of the chief man of the island, under the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks,.... Had picked up some sticks, and put them in a bundle fit for the fire, as everyone was busy to assist in this extremity; nor did the apostle think such an action below him, who in all things was a man of great humility and condescension: and laid them on the fire; to increase it: there came a viper...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast,.... The viper is called "Therion", a beast, it being of the viviparous kind; and hence comes "Theriaca", or "Venice treacle", the foundation of which composition is vipers' flesh; and it is called venomous, because it is of all serpents the most venomous: this when the country people saw hang on his...