What Does Acts 27:12 Mean?
And since the harbor was not well placed for wintering, the greater number resolved to put out from there also, if by any means they might reach Phenice and winter there, a harbor of Crete looking toward the southwest and the northwest.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter; which is an haven of Crete, and lieth toward the south west and north west.THE KEY
The Greek links a harbor that is not well-placed for winter with the majority setting a plan: place and plan share the same root.
THE MEANING
A refuge is judged by the season it must hold, and when the current haven cannot support that season, the group sets its course toward another. The hope is explicit but uncertain: they plan to go “if by any means” they might reach Phenice. The verse keeps the difference between choosing a shelter and arriving at one in view.
THE ROOT
ἀνεύθετον
aneuthetos
GROWS FROM
τίθημι
tithēmi
To put, set, or place.
“not well placed” in this verse is aneuthetos. English gives “commodious” and “advised” as unrelated ideas. Greek connects a harbor that is not well-placed with a plan the majority sets, joining the place’s fitness to the course they choose.
ALSO GROWS
euthetos: Well-placed; suitable.
εὔθετος
This is the positive sense inside the description of a harbor that is not suitable for wintering.
ethento: They set or put forward.
ἔθεντο
In this verse, the majority “advised” by setting out a plan, echoing the root of the harbor’s being well-placed.
παραχειμάσαι
paracheimasai
GROWS FROM
χειμ-
cheim-
Winter or stormy weather.
The verb for wintering is formed around the Greek stem for winter and storm. Later in the voyage, that stem appears in the description of being storm-tossed, bringing the season they seek shelter through close to the weather that batters them.
ALSO GROWS
cheimōn: Winter; stormy weather or a storm.
χειμών
The noun holds the season and its rough weather within the same word-family.
cheimazomenoi: Being battered or tossed by a storm.
χειμαζόμενοι
This later form in Acts 27 shows the same weather-root as direct exposure to the conditions a harbor must shelter against.
THE PATTERN
A refuge is proven by whether it holds through the conditions that drive people toward it.
A prudent man sees the harm and hides himself; but the open ones cross over and are punished.And the rain came down, and the rivers came, and the winds breathed and fell against that house, and it did not fall, for it had been laid on the rock.Then they are glad, for they are quiet; and he leads them to the harbor of their delight.THE THREAD
And when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm pressed upon us, all hope that we would be delivered was then stripped away.The wintering word in this verse and the word for the “tempest” in verse 20 share the Greek stem χειμ- (cheim-, winter or stormy weather). The season they seek a harbor to endure becomes the force pressing upon them.
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