Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Acts 27:21 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 21. 21But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Begins Paul's address after prolonged fasting and recalls his ignored advice.
Read It With
- Acts 27:13–27:26
Acts 27:21 begins Paul's address after prolonged fasting and recalls his ignored advice; within Acts 27:13–27:26, the controlling movement is that A violent northeast wind drives the ship, sailors take survival measures, all hope fades, and Paul recalls the rejected counsel before reporting an angelic promise that all lives will be preserved though the ship will be lost on an island.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Begins Paul's address after prolonged fasting and recalls his ignored advice. This precise contribution belongs inside “The storm destroys control but not hope” because A violent northeast wind drives the ship, sailors take survival measures, all hope fades, and Paul recalls the rejected counsel before reporting an angelic promise that all lives will be preserved though the ship will be lost on an island.
Follow the Context
- A violent northeast wind drives the ship, sailors take survival measures, all hope fades, and Paul recalls the rejected counsel before reporting an angelic promise that all lives will be preserved though the ship will be lost on an island.
- The unit distinguishes narrated event, participant speech, the narrator's framing, material uncertainty, and the ethical boundary: The promise does not justify ignoring expertise, promise believers immunity from disasters, or make rebuke the first duty in trauma.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
The promise does not justify ignoring expertise, promise believers immunity from disasters, or make rebuke the first duty in trauma.
What Remains True
Because Acts 27:21 begins Paul's address after prolonged fasting and recalls his ignored advice, faithful witness must preserve the verse's speaker, narrated setting, people affected, and the full movement of Acts 27:13–27:26 before drawing an enduring claim.
How It Can Shape Life
- For Acts 27:21, first identify this verse role—begins Paul's address after prolonged fasting and recalls his ignored advice; then explain the contextual meaning in Acts 27:13–27:26; preserve the proportionate truth about accountable witness; finally apply this boundary: The promise does not justify ignoring expertise, promise believers immunity from disasters, or make rebuke the first duty in trauma.
Teach It Back
Explain Acts 27:21's precise role in Acts 27:13–27:26. Distinguish narrator and speaker, include the first Jewish, Gentile, household, disabled, enslaved, imprisoned, or Roman horizon as relevant, disclose the material uncertainty, and name one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Acts 27:13–27:26 — The storm destroys control but not hopeSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The narrative mixes technical seamanship, human action, despair, and claimed revelation; divine promise does not eliminate the crew's later necessary work.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and unit coverage.
Exact location: Acts 27:13–27:26, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control, without pretending one edition is a complete apparatus.
Exact location: SBLGNT official text, Acts 27:13-27:26
Open the Acts Greek text file ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for words explicitly discussed in this unit.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data, TAGNT rows for Acts 27:13-27:26
Open source ↗open translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Acts
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-attached textual, translation, language, geography, chronology, and historical notes actually printed for the unit.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Acts PDF, printed pp. 2104-2205, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to 27:13–27:26
Open source ↗open university bible study course
Acts of the Apostles Course and Study Guides
Yale Divinity School faculty
Yale Bible Study, 2019
Supports: Introductory critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, with contested judgments retained as interpretations.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study Acts course, course unit 'The Gospel, the Romans, the Jews,' Acts 24-28 study guide
Open source ↗open confessional commentary
The Acts of the Apostles
Alan J. Thompson
The Gospel Coalition, 2023
Supports: One complete confessional commentary reading, independently checked against the text and critical controls.
Exact location: Thompson, online Acts commentary, heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Acts 27:13–27:26
Open source ↗