17After hoisting it up they took measures to undergird the ship; then, fearing that they would run on the Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and so were driven.
The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated “boat” or “ship” in English is translated in Chichimeca-Jonaz as “that with which we can walk on water” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.), in Chitonga as a term in combination with bwato or “dugout canoe” (source: Wendland 1987, p. 72), and in Tangale as inj am or “canoe-of water” (inj — “canoe” — on its own typically refers to a traditional type of carved-out log for sleeping) (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin).
In Kouya it is translated as ‘glʋ ‘kadʋ — “big canoe.”
Philip Saunders (p. 231) explains how the Kouya team arrived at that conclusion:
“Acts chapter 27 was a challenge! It describes Paul’s sea voyage to Italy, and finally Rome. There is a storm at sea and a shipwreck on Malta, and the chapter includes much detailed nautical vocabulary. How do you translate this for a landlocked people group, most of whom have never seen the ocean? All they know are small rivers and dugout canoes.
“We knew that we could later insert some illustrations during the final paging process which would help the Kouya readers to picture what was happening, but meanwhile we struggled to find or invent meaningful terms. The ‘ship’ was a ‘big canoe’ and the ‘passengers’ were ‘the people in the big canoe’; the ‘crew’ were the ‘workers in the big canoe’; the ‘pilot’ was the ‘driver of the big canoe’; the ‘big canoe stopping place’ was the ‘harbour’, and the ‘big canoe stopping metal’ was the ‘anchor’!”
In Lokạạ it is translated as ukalangkwaa, lit. “English canoe.” “The term was not coined for the Bible translation, but rather originated in colonial times when the English arrived in Nigeria on ships. The indigenous term for a canoe was modified to represent the large, ocean-going ship of the English.” (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 27:17:
Uma: “After we had pulled up that small boat on to the ship, we tied it well so that it would not be lost. After that, the ship also was just tied-around with ropes so that it would be strong. From there, because the workers on the ship were afraid lest our ship hit sand in shallow water that was close to the land of Libia, that’s why they lowered the sail and they allowed the ship to be blown by the wind.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “They took the lifeboat on board the ship and then they bound the body of the ship with ropes so it would not break open. They also lowered the sail because they were afraid the ship might run aground in the shallow water there near Libiya. And they already allowed/abandoned the ship to be carried along by the wind.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “They lifted it up and put it on the ship. And then they tied up the ship with some ropes so that it might not fall apart, and since they were afraid that the ship might break apart if it hit the shallow land which is near the shore of the land of Libya, they took down its sail, and they just never minded the ship as to where the wind would carry it.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “That being finished, they wrapped the ship with large ropes so that its planks would not come-apart. They also lowered the sail (Ilo. loan layag) so that the ship would be blown slowly, because they were worried lest it hit/land-on ridged sand/gravel across-from Sirtis.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “After having pulled it up, what they did next was, they put big ropes right around what we were sailing in. And then because they were afraid of being driven by the wind on to the big pebble-ridge which was opposite Libia, they the took down their wide sail, and as there was nothing more which could be done, just allowed themselves to be driven by the wind.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
In order to make the ship’s boat safe from the waves, they pulled it aboard. In some languages one must specify pulled it aboard in terms of two different events: “raise it up and put it on top of the ship” or “put it on the deck of the ship.”
The word rendered ropes is of uncertain meaning in Greek, and there are at least two possible meanings. (1) The word may refer to the ship’s tackle which was used to pull the ship’s boat aboard (see Lake “they lifted it up by using their tackle”). (2) On the other hand, most scholars understand this is in the sense of ropes (perhaps made from the ship’s tackle, see New English Bible) that were fastened tight around the ship in order to keep it from coming apart in the storm. It may be necessary in some languages to be quite specific about the placement of these ropes around the ship—for example, “they placed ropes underneath the ship and tied them right.”
Sandbanks off the coast of Libya is literally “Syrtis” in the Greek text. As the Good News Translation has made clear, the reference is to the dangerous quicksands along the coast of Libya towards which they feared the ship might drift (see Jerusalem Bible “on the Syrtis banks”; New English Bible “the shallows of Syrtis”). Sandbanks may be rendered as “sand just beneath the water” or “dangerous sand just beneath the water.”
The meaning of the phrase lowered the sail is ambiguous in Greek. Other than the interpretation rendered in the Good News Translation (also followed basically by New English Bible, An American Translation*, Moffatt, Phillips), there is the possibility that the word rendered sail should be taken in the larger sense as a reference to the ship’s “gear.” This would mean that not only were the sails brought down, but the spars and the rigging as well were lowered to the deck of the ship. A third possibility, and one which does not have much acceptance, is to understand the word in the sense of “sea-anchor” (so Jerusalem Bible). A sea anchor would probably have been a large piece of canvas designed somewhat in funnel shape which would have been tied to the stern of the ship and which would have slowed down the ship’s movement considerably, thus presumably preventing it going ashore off the coast of Libya. However, lowering the sail would have accomplished somewhat the same results, and this alternative is far more likely.
By translating and let the ship be carried by the wind, the Good News Translation has made explicit the meaning of the Greek clause, “in this way they were being carried along,” though others take this to mean “and so let themselves drift” (Jerusalem Bible). This final clause may be rendered in some languages as “let the wind blow the ship along” or “let the wind blow the ship wherever it wanted.”
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 .
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