Acts 27:8

8 We struggled along the coast with great difficulty and finally arrived at Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea.

Acts 27:8 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 27:8

And hardly passing it
That is, Salmone, with great difficulty, because of the winds:

came unto a place which is called the Fair Havens;
called by other writers Cale Acte, or the fair shore, and is placed by Ptolomy ^F3 in Eubaea, and by Herodotus ^F4 in Sicily; but by Stephanus ^F5 is said to be a city of the Cretians, and which agrees with this account;

nigh whereunto was the city of Lasae;
there was a city in Crete called by Solinus ^F6 Lisson, and by Ptolomy ^F7 Lyssus, which he places on the south side of the island; and by Pliny ^F8 Lasos, which comes pretty near to this name, but then he places it in the midland part of Crete; who also makes mention of an island called Lasia over against Troezenium, and another that was one of the Cyclades; the Syriac version here read, "Lasia": Jerom ^F9 says, Lasea is a city on the shore of the island of Crete, near the place which is called the Fair Havens, as Luke himself explains it; for which some corruptly read "Thalassa"; as do the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions; and the Alexandrian copy "Alassa": Beza conjectures that it is the same with Eloea, which Pliny makes mention of in the above cited place, as a city in Crete.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 De ordis Situ. l. 3. c. 15.
F4 L. 6. c. 22.
F5 De urbibus.
F6 Polyhist. c. 16.
F7 Ib. l. 3. c. 17.
F8 L. 4. c. 12.
F9 De locis Hebraicis, fol. 96. D.

Acts 27:8 In-Context

6 There the commanding officer found an Egyptian ship from Alexandria that was bound for Italy, and he put us on board.

7 We had several days of slow sailing, and after great difficulty we finally neared Cnidus. But the wind was against us, so we sailed across to Crete and along the sheltered coast of the island, past the cape of Salmone.

8 We struggled along the coast with great difficulty and finally arrived at Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea.

9 We had lost a lot of time. The weather was becoming dangerous for sea travel because it was so late in the fall, and Paul spoke to the ship’s officers about it.

10 “Men,” he said, “I believe there is trouble ahead if we go on—shipwreck, loss of cargo, and danger to our lives as well.”