Acts Chapter 27 verse 39 Holy Bible
And when it was day, they knew not the land: but they perceived a certain bay with a beach, and they took counsel whether they could drive the ship upon it.
read chapter 27 in ASV
And when it was day, they had no knowledge of the land, but they saw an inlet of the sea with a floor of sand, and they had the idea of driving the ship up on to it if possible.
read chapter 27 in BBE
And when it was day they did not recognise the land; but they perceived a certain bay having a strand, on which they were minded, if they should be able, to run the ship ashore;
read chapter 27 in DARBY
And when it was day, they knew not the land: but they discovered a certain creek with a shore, into the which they were minded, if it were possible, to thrust in the ship.
read chapter 27 in KJV
read chapter 27 in WBT
When it was day, they didn't recognize the land, but they noticed a certain bay with a beach, and they decided to try to drive the ship onto it.
read chapter 27 in WEB
And when the day came, they were not discerning the land, but a certain creek were perceiving having a beach, into which they took counsel, if possible, to thrust forward the ship,
read chapter 27 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 39. - 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 ver. 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 ο}ν 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., 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 דָּחָה and דּוּהַ (see Deuteronomy 13:3; 2 Samuel 14:13; Jeremiah 49. [LXX., 26.] 36, etc.).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(39) They knew not the land.--It was, of course, probable enough that some at least of the sailors had been at Malta before; but St. Paul's Bay, which we assume to be the point they had now reached, was remote from the Great Harbour, now that of Valetta, into which ships commonly sailed, and may therefore well have remained unknown to them.A certain creek with a shore.--Better, having a beach, the English word failing to describe why it was that the creek attracted them. The earlier versions have "bank." In Homer and other Greek writers the word is commonly used for a flat, sandy beach.To thrust in the ship.--The word was a quasi-technical one, answering to our "to run the ship aground."
