Clarke's Bible Commentary - Acts 27:27
Verse 27. Driven up and down in Adria] See the note on chap. xxvii. 17. Deemed that they drew near to some country] They judged so, either by the smell of land, which those used to the sea can perceive at a considerable distance, or by the agitation of the sea, rippling of the tide, flight of sea-birds, &c.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 27. But when the fourteenth night was come , etc.] From their setting out from the Fair Havens in Crete, or from the beginning of the storm: as they were driven up and down in Adria : or in the Adriatic sea, as the Syriac version renders it: the Adriatic sea is now called by the Turks the gulf of Venice, and the straits of Venice, and sometimes the Venetian sea f1304 ; but formerly the Adriatic sea included more than the Venetian gulf; it took in the Ionian and Sicilian seas, and had its name from the city Adria, a colony of the Tuscans f1305 . It is called by Ptolomy Hadria, and reckoned a city of the Picenes. Pliny places it near the river Padus, and calls it Atriae, a town of the Tuscans, which had a famous port, from whence the sea was before called Atriatic, which is now Adriatic. Adria, Justin says, which is near to the Illyrian sea, and gave name to the Adriatic sea, is a Grecian city; and from this place the ancestors of Adrian, the Roman emperor, originally came; and all the sea between Illyricum and Italy is called the Adriatic; and from the beginning of it, which is at the city of Venice, unto Garganus, a mountain in Italy, and Dyrrachium, a city of Macedonia, it is 600 miles in length, and its largest breadth is 200, and the least 150, and the mouth of it 60. The other part of the sea, which washes Macedonia and Epirus, is called the Ionian sea. Moreover, this whole sea is called the superior sea, with respect to the Tyrrhenian, which dashes the other shore of Italy, and is called the inferior f1309 . In this same sea, Josephus f1310 , the historian, was shipwrecked as he was on a voyage to Rome: his account is this; I came to Rome, having gone through many dangers by sea, for our ship being sunk in the middle of Adria, being in number about six hundred, we swam all night; and about break of day, by the providence of God, a ship of Cyrene appeared to us, in which I, and some others, in all eighty, getting before the rest, were received into it, and so got safe to Dicearchia, which the Italians call Puteoli; a place afterwards mentioned, where the apostle also arrived. And the sea itself is often, by the poets called Adria, as here, and is represented as a very troublesome sea; and here Paul, and the ships company, were driven to and fro by the storm, when about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country : about the middle of the night the mariners thought, by some observations they made, that they were nigh land; or, as it is in the Greek text, that some country drew near to them; which well agrees with the language and sense of seafaring persons, to whose sight the land seems to draw near them, or depart from them, when they draw near, or depart from that: the Ethiopic version is, they thought they should have seen a city; they had a notion of some city near; and the Arabic version, they thought to know in what country, or place they were; and therefore did as follows.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 21-29 - They did not hearken to the apostle when he warned them of their danger; yet if they acknowledge their folly, and repent of it, he wil speak comfort and relief to them when in danger. Most people brin themselves into trouble, because they do not know when they are wel off; they come to harm and loss by aiming to mend their condition often against advice. Observe the solemn profession Paul made of relation to God. No storms or tempests can hinder God's favour to his people, for he is a Help always at hand. It is a comfort to the faithful servants of God when in difficulties, that as long as the Lor has any work for them to do, their lives shall be prolonged. If Pau had thrust himself needlessly into bad company, he might justly have been cast away with them; but God calling him into it, they ar preserved with him. They are given thee; there is no greate satisfaction to a good man than to know he is a public blessing. He comforts them with the same comforts wherewith he himself wa comforted. God is ever faithful, therefore let all who have an interes in his promises be ever cheerful. As, with God, saying and doing ar not two things, believing and enjoying should not be so with us. Hop is an anchor of the soul, sure and stedfast, entering into that withi the veil. Let those who are in spiritual darkness hold fast by that and think not of putting to sea again, but abide by Christ, and wai till the day break, and the shadows flee away.
Greek Textus Receptus
ως 5613 ADV δε 1161 CONJ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκατη 5065 A-NSF νυξ 3571 N-NSF εγενετο 1096 5633 V-2ADI-3S διαφερομενων 1308 5746 V-PPP-GPM ημων 2257 P-1GP εν 1722 PREP τω 3588 T-DSM αδρια 99 N-DSM κατα 2596 PREP μεσον 3319 A-ASN της 3588 T-GSF νυκτος 3571 N-GSF υπενοουν 5282 5707 V-IAI-3P οι 3588 T-NPM ναυται 3492 N-NPM προσαγειν 4317 5721 V-PAN τινα 5100 X-ASF αυτοις 846 P-DPM χωραν 5561 N-ASF
Vincent's NT Word Studies
27. Adria. The Adriatic Sea: embracing all that part of the Mediterranean lying south of Italy, east of Sicily, and west of Greece.Deemed (upenooun). Better, as Rev., suspected or surmised.
That they drew near to some country. Lit., that some land is drawing near to them.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
27:27 {As we were driven to and fro} (diaferomenwn hemwn). Genitive absolute with present passive participle of diaferw, old verb to bear different ways (dia=duo, two), this way and that. Continued to be tossed to and fro in the rough seas. It would seem so to those on board. It does not necessarily mean that the wind had changed. The fourteenth night is reckoned from the time they left Fair Havens. {In the sea of Adria} (en twi hadriai). Not the Adriatic Sea as we now call the sea between Italy and the mainland of Illyricum, but all the lower Mediterranean between Italy and Greece. Luke's usage is like that of Strabo. {Surmised} (hupenooun). Imperfect active indicative of huponoew, inchoative, began to suspect. {That they were drawing near to some country} (prosagein tina autois ch"ran). Infinitive with accusative of general reference in indirect assertion. prosagw is here used intransitively and Luke writes from the sailor's standpoint that a certain land was drawing near to them (autois, dative). The sailors heard the sound of breakers and grew uneasy.
