What Does Acts 27:8 Mean in the King James?
And, hardly passing it, came unto a place which is called The fair havens; nigh whereunto was the city of Lasea.
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 harbor is called good even though reaching it is hard: goodness here means shelter that receives you in the strain.
THE MEANING
You can be moving with difficulty and still be nearing a place of shelter. The name “Fair Havens” places goodness in what a harbor offers, even while the passage toward it remains hard.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A hard approach does not mean the place of shelter ahead is not good.
THE ROOT
καλοὺς
kalous
GROWS FROM
καλ-
kal-
Good, beautiful, or admirable.
The place is literally called “Good Harbors.” The Greek word carries both the sense of beauty and goodness, so “fair” names more than pleasing scenery: it names a place whose goodness is shelter.
ALSO GROWS
kállos: Beauty.
κάλλος
This related form shows the root’s connection to what is beautiful, a shade English “good” alone does not carry.
kállistos: Fairest or best.
κάλλιστος
The superlative keeps beauty and goodness together, echoing the harbor’s name as a quality of the place.
THE PATTERN
Shelter is goodness made usable in a moment of strain.
Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.THE THREAD
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 Greek word for “haven” returns, but the place named Good Harbors is not suited to every need: it cannot conveniently hold them through winter. Its goodness is real and specific, measured by the shelter it can offer for a given season.
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