Acts Chapter 27 verse 21 Holy Bible
And when they had been long without food, then Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have set sail from Crete, and have gotten this injury and loss.
read chapter 27 in ASV
And when they had been without food for a long time, Paul got up among them and said, Friends, it would have been better if you had given attention to me and not gone sailing out from Crete, to undergo this damage and loss.
read chapter 27 in BBE
And when they had been a long while without taking food, Paul then standing up in the midst of them said, Ye ought, O men, to have hearkened to me, and not have made sail from Crete and have gained this disaster and loss.
read chapter 27 in DARBY
But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss.
read chapter 27 in KJV
read chapter 27 in WBT
When they had been long without food, Paul stood up in the middle of them, and said, "Sirs, you should have listened to me, and not have set sail from Crete, and have gotten this injury and loss.
read chapter 27 in WEB
And there having been long fasting, then Paul having stood in the midst of them, said, `It behoved `you', indeed, O men -- having hearkened to me -- not to set sail from Crete, and to save this hurt and damage;
read chapter 27 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 21. - And when they had been long without food for but after long abstinence, A.V. and T.R.; then Paul for Paul, A.V.; set sail for loosed, A.V.; and gotten for to have gained, A.V.; injury for harm, A.V. Long without food (πολλῆς ἀσιτίας ὑπαρχούσης). Ἀσιτία is only found here in the Bible; but it was the common medical term for loss of the appetite, and such is the most natural rendering here. There is nothing about "long abstinence" in the text, nor does the verb ὑπαρχούσης admit of being translated "when they had been." It describes a present condition. The literal rendering is, when there was a great (or, general) loss of appetite among the crew. The terror, the discomfort, the sea-sickness, the constant pressure of danger and labor, the difficulty of cooking, the unpalatableness of the food, combined to take away relish of their food, and they were becoming weak for want of nourishment. Have gotten (κερδῆσαι). Schleusner, Bengel, Meyer, Alford, and the 'Speaker's Commentary' explain this as equivalent to "have avoided," or "have escaped," and quote Josephus ('Ant. Jud,' it. 3:2), Τὸ μιανθῆναι τὰς χεῖρας κερδαίνειν, "To avoid staining their hands;" and ' Bell. Jud.,' it. 16:4 (towards the close of Agrippa's speech), Τῆς ἥττης ὄνειδος κερδήσετε," You will gain (i.e. avoid) the disgrace of defeat," like the use in Latin of lucrifacere. But it is simpler on the whole to understand it in the sense of "getting" as the fruit of your own conduct. We should say in English, "What have yon gained by this? Nothing but loss and shame." Compare too the phrase Τὰ ὀψώνια τῆς ἀμαρτίας θάνατος (Romans 6:23). So Liddell and Scott give us one use of κερδαίνειν, to gain a loss, 1.e. reap disadvantage, and quote from Euripides, 'Hecuba,' 1. 518 (516, Scholefield), διπλᾶ δάκρυα κερδᾶναι, "to gain double weeping." Injury (ὕβριν); see ver. 10, note. In the A.V. "to have gained" observe the same idiom as in ver. 10, "and there to winter."
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(21) After long abstinence . . .--We find from Acts 27:35-38 that there was still a fair supply of food on board, but. as they could not tell how long it might be before they reached a harbour, the crew, amounting, with passengers, to two hundred and seventy-six men (Acts 27:37), had been naturally put on reduced rations, and the storm, and the sacrifice which they had been obliged to make of all their goods that could be spared probably made cooking all but impossible.Paul stood forth in the midst of them.--The narrative implies that while others had burst into the wailing cries of despair, calling, we may believe, like the sailors in Jonah 1:5, "every man unto his god," the Apostle had passed his hours of darkness in silent communing with God, and now came forward with the assurance that his prayers were heard. With the feeling natural to one whose counsel had been slighted, he reminds them that if they had followed it they would have been spared the harm and loss (the same words are used in the Greek as in Acts 27:10) to which they were now exposed. "Sirs," as in Acts 14:15; Acts 19:25, answers to the Greek for "men." . . .
