Acts 27:39 - Exposition

Perceived for discovered, A.V.; bay with a beach for creek with a shore, A.V.; and they took counsel whether they could drive the ship upon it for into the which they were minded, if it were possible, to thrust in the ship, A.V. They knew not the land . It was seven miles from the harbor of Valetta, and a part of the island not likely to have been visited by the sailors, and presenting no marked features by which they would recognize it. A certain bay with a beach ; αἰγιαλόν , a level pebbly or sandy beach ( Matthew 13:2 ; Acts 21:5 ; and Acts 21:40 ), as opposed to ἄκτη , a high rugged coast ( τρηχεῖα ὑψηλή , etc., Homer). They took counsel whether they could drive , etc. The rendering of the A.V. is surely infinitely better than the R.V. The meaning of βουλεύομαι , both in the New Testament and in classical Greek, is frequently and properly "to determine," "to resolve" or "purpose" (see Acts 5:33 ; Acts 15:37 , note; 2 Corinthians 1:17 ; and Liddell and Scott's 'Lexicon '); and the order of the words here suits the rendering of the A.V. much better than that of the R.V., which would require καὶ ἐβουλεύοντο , instead of εἰς ὂν κ . τ . λ . The Revisionists seem to have been misled by the resemblance of Luke 14:31 . Drive; ἐξῶσαι ,, the technical word for driving a ship ashore (Thucyd., Luke 2:10 , etc.). It only occurs in the New Testament here, and in a different sense in Acts 7:45 . It is not uncommon in the LXX . as the rendering of החָדָּ and הַוּדּ (see Deuteronomy 13:3 ; 2 Samuel 14:13 ; Jeremiah 49:36 . [ LXX ., 26.] etc.).