What Does Acts 27:32 Mean in the King James?
Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat, and let her fall off.
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
The ropes are cut so the boat cannot carry anyone away from the people whose survival depends on staying together.
THE MEANING
You are shown a hard release: the ropes are cut, and the smaller boat is allowed to fall away. It would carry some people from the ship, the place the surrounding warning identifies as necessary for their survival. Here, the apparent escape route disappears so the people can remain together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that every available way out leads to safety dissolves here: leaving the ship in the skiff would put the lives aboard at risk.
THE ROOT
ἀπέκοψαν
apékopsan
GROWS FROM
κόπτω
kóptō
to strike or cut
“cut off” in this verse is apékopsan. The cutting verb names a deliberate severing that makes the boat’s separation possible. Its wider family also means cutting out or cutting down, giving this action the force of a hard break in the line of attachment.
ALSO GROWS
ekkóptō: cut out or cut off
ἐκκόπτω
The same cutting root makes the severance here more than a boat drifting loose.
katakóptō: cut down or strike down
κατακόπτω
This branch carries the root’s forceful edge, echoing how decisively the ropes are severed.
ἐκπεσεῖν
ekpeseîn
GROWS FROM
πίπτω
píptō
to fall or fall down
“fall off” in this verse is ekpeseîn. The Greek verb gives the boat’s movement the sense of falling away or out, rather than simply being lowered. The same fall-root appears in words for falling into danger, so the surrounding construction supplies the direction while the root holds the motion in common.
ALSO GROWS
empíptō: fall into
ἐμπίπτω
The added element shifts the fall toward what someone enters; here, the boat falls away from the ship.
peripíptō: fall among or fall into
περιπίπτω
This branch also uses the same fall-root, showing how surrounding elements change the direction or situation of the fall.
THE PATTERN
Life is preserved through relinquishing what appears to secure it.
Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.THE THREAD
Which when they had taken up, they used helps, undergirding the ship; and, fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, strake sail, and so were driven.The same Greek fall-verb appears in 27:17, where the crew fears the ship will fall into the shoals, and here, where the skiff is allowed to fall away. The surrounding words supply opposite directions, while the shared root keeps the motion of falling in view.
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