In many languages the equivalent of dangerous is simply “bad,” “will cause great trouble,” or even “will almost destroy us.”

Damage to the cargo may simply be rendered as “the cargo will be wrecked” or “what is in the ship will be lost.”

Loss of life is literally “loss of souls”; but the Greek word for “soul” is often used in the sense of life (see Matthew 6.25-27; Luke 12.22-24). Loss of life may be rendered as “people will die because of this.” Note that in reality all persons did get safely ashore (v. 44), but no doubt the loss of life was a part of Paul’s warning at this point in the account.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .