What Does Acts 27:20 Mean in the King James?
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 analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
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.
“saved” 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.
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 is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.THE THREAD
And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe 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.
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