What Does Acts 27:20 Mean?
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.
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 when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.THE KEY
Hope here is the expectation of being brought through, and the storm steadily strips that expectation away.
THE MEANING
When the lights that orient you disappear and pressure keeps bearing down, even the expectation of being brought through can be stripped away. The verse names that collapse as real without making it the final outcome.
THE ROOT
σωθῆναι
sōthēnai
GROWS FROM
σώζω
sōzō
Rescue, preserve, bring safely through.
“delivered” in this verse is sōthēnai. Here the word means rescue from the storm: the sailors no longer expect to make it through. The same word family returns in Acts 27:44 when everyone reaches land; what disappears here is their hope, not the possibility of being brought through.
ALSO GROWS
sōtēria: Rescue, deliverance.
σωτηρία
This noun names the deliverance the sailors hope for in this verse.
diasōzō: Bring safely through.
διασῴζω
Acts 27:44 uses this compound for the same travelers reaching land.
περιῃρεῖτο
periēreito
GROWS FROM
αἱρέω (hairéō), in the compound περιαιρέω (periairéō)
The base verb means take or remove; the compound means take away or remove.
“stripped away” in this verse is periēreito. The imperfect form presents hope as being taken away over time, under pressure that has continued for many days. The thing eroding is their expectation of making it through while the storm remains upon them.
ALSO GROWS
hairéō: Take, take up, remove; in some contexts, choose.
αἱρέω
This base supplies the taking or removing action in the verse’s compound verb.
periairéō: Remove, take away.
περιαιρέω
This is the verb family of the form used here: hope itself is being removed.
aphairéō: Take away, remove.
ἀφαιρέω
This related compound shares the same base and shows how Greek forms verbs of removal from αἱρέω.
THE PATTERN
Losing visible bearings can make rescue seem impossible before the outcome is known.
Who among you is in awe of the LORD, hears and responds to the voice of his servant, walks in darkness, and has no glow? Let him lean his full weight upon the nature of the LORD, and rest upon his God.He makes the storm stand in stillness, and its waves are hushed.And waking, he rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, Be silent. Be muzzled. And the wind wore itself out, and a great calm came.THE THREAD
And the rest, some on planks, and some on pieces of the ship. And so it came about that they were all delivered safely to land.Verse 20’s σωθῆναι (sōthēnai, “to be rescued, brought through”) and 27:44’s διασωθῆναι (diasōthēnai, “to be brought safely through”) share σώζω (sōzō, “rescue”) as their root. The word for the rescue they no longer expect returns as everyone reaches land, some carried by broken pieces of the ship.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us