What Does Acts 27:9 Mean in the King James?

Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them,

Acts 27:9 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

A warning does not create danger; it names a route that has become fall-prone as its season passes.

THE MEANING

A route can remain open while becoming dangerous. Time and conditions shift beneath forward movement, and a warning gives that instability a name. The risk is already present before anyone voices it.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Progress does not prove safety; a course can remain possible even after its conditions have turned perilous.

THE ROOT

ἐπισφαλοῦς

episphalous

GROWS FROM

σφαλ-

sphal-

To stumble or fall, or to cause a fall.

“dangerous” in this verse is episphalous. The Greek word for the voyage’s danger carries the sense of instability, of being liable to fall. The same stem appears in a word for what is secure, setting what may give way against what holds firm.

ALSO GROWS

sphállō: To cause to stumble or fall; in the middle voice, to stumble or fall.

σφάλλω

This verb exposes the instability inside the verse’s word for danger: the voyage is liable to go wrong, not merely inconvenient.

asphalēs: Safe, secure, not liable to fall.

ἀσφαλής

Its shared ⁨σφαλ-⁩ stem makes safety the opposite of giving way; the verse names a course that has become precarious.

THE PATTERN

Wisdom reads the conditions of a path and names risk before proceeding.

A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.

Proverbs 22:3 · KJVThe prudent person recognizes danger early enough to avoid moving blindly into it.

And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is.

Luke 12:54 · KJVChanging conditions give signs that can be read before their consequences arrive.

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

1 Corinthians 10:12 · KJVAssumed stability does not remove the possibility of a fall.

THE THREAD

And said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives.

Acts 27:10 · KJV

The next verse makes the risk concrete: the dangerous course threatens both cargo and lives. It shows how instability on a shared path reaches everyone who depends on it.

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