What Does Acts 27:27 Mean in the King James?
But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria, about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country;
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
At midnight, while you are still being tossed, nearness can begin to register before solid ground appears.
THE MEANING
You can be carried through uncertainty without having control or a clear view. Even then, something around you can register that ground is nearer than it seemed; the first sign may be an inference, not sight. Nearness and instability can exist at the same time.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being tossed means you are no closer to solid ground.
THE ROOT
διαφερομένων
diapheromenōn
GROWS FROM
φέρω
pherō
to carry or bear
The Greek word is built on pherō, “carry” or “bear,” and here describes the company being carried along in the sea’s motion. English “driven up and down” conveys the tossing, while the root also lets you hear the deeper image of being borne through a passage you cannot steer.
ALSO GROWS
prospherō: bring toward; bring or offer
προσφέρω
This compound keeps the root’s sense of carrying while adding movement toward something, echoing the crew’s dawning sense that land is near.
anapherō: carry up; bring up; offer
ἀναφέρω
This branch shows the same carrying root used for bearing something onward, underlining that the motion in this verse is something happening to the crew rather than something they control.
THE PATTERN
In an unstable passage, a sign of nearness can surface before the danger has ended.
And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.THE THREAD
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.The Greek word behind “driven” here is built on φέρω (pherō), “carry” or “bear”; “were moved” in 2 Peter renders a form from that same root. English gives the two movements different words, while the Greek shares the image of being carried along, by the sea in Acts, and by the Set-Apart Breath in 2 Peter.
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