Acts 27:20 - Exposition

Shone upon us for many days for in many days appeared, A.V. ; now for then, A.V. Neither sun nor stars , etc. This is mentioned, not only as a feature of the severity and length of the easterly gale (for the wind had shifted two or three points to the east), but specially because in the navigation of that time, before the invention of the compass, the sun, moon, and stars were the only things they had to steer by, or by which they could know the direction in which they were drifting. Shone upon us ( ἐπιφαινόντων ); showed themselves; i. e. "appeared,'' as in the A.V., which is the best rendering (romp. ἐπιφανεία , the appearance, or Epiphany). Now . λοιπόν τοόν , and τοῦ λοιποῦ are used adverbially both in the New Testament and in classical Greek. It is sometimes rendered "now," i . e. for the time that remains; and sometimes "henceforth;" sometimes "finally" ( Mark 14:41 ; 2 Timothy 4:8 ; 2 Corinthians 13:11 , etc.). It seems that sometimes χρόνον is to be understood, and sometimes that it means "as for what remaineth" to be said or done (romp. the French du reste or au reste ) .