Acts 27:10

Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt. — The tone is clearly that of a man who speaks more from the foresight gained by observation than from a direct supernatural prediction. St. Paul had had, it will be remembered, the experience of three shipwrecks (2 Corinthians 11:25), and the Epistle to Titus, though probably written later, shows an acquaintance with Crete which suggests that he may have had some knowledge even of the very harbour in which they had found refuge. His advice accordingly was to remain where they were, in comparative safety, in spite of the drawbacks referred to in Acts 27:12. The word for “hurt,” which properly means “outrage,” is used here in the sense of a violent calamity.

Not only of the lading. — The cargo probably consisted chiefly of corn coming from Alexandria to Rome. (Comp. Notes on Acts 27:18; Acts 27:38.)

But also of our lives. — No lives were actually lost (Acts 27:44), but the Apostle speaks now, as above, from the stand-point of reasonable opinion. When his counsel was rejected he gave himself to prayer, and to that prayer (Acts 27:24) he attributes the preservation of his companions not less than his own.