Now when the fourteenth night had come, as we were driven up and down in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors sensed that they were drawing near some land. Acts 27:27

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A more literal rendering is, “And when the fourteenth night came, we – being carried through in the Adriatic – about the middle of the night, the sailors suspected some land to approach them” (CG).

Paul just told those on the ship that they must run aground on a certain island. Now, immediately after that, it says, “And when the fourteenth night came.” This fourteenth day is generally accepted to be from the time that they left Fair Havens. They had planned on a short trip from there to Phoenix, and yet they were quickly swept up into fourteen days of terror on the high seas.

The word translated as fourteenth is tessareskaidekatos. It is found only here and in verse 27:33. It is derived from three words, tessares (four), kai (and), and dekatos (tenth). On this fourteenth day, Luke next says, “we – being carried through in the Adriatic.”

The Adriatic Sea, or in Greek, “the Adria,” which is found only here in the New Testament, indicates an area larger than it now does. Today, the Adriatic Sea is the sea which is to the east of Italy, with Croatia, Montenegro, and Albania on the other shore.

However, the term here indicates the whole sea between Greece and Italy which included Sicily. Josephus wrote of his own shipwreck in the Adria, and he uses the area in the same sense as Luke does here. While being tossed about in this great, open body of water, it next says, “about the middle of the night.”

It is an approximation of the time, but the point of Luke’s words is that the sailors on the ship were busy doing their regular duties, even though the ship was being driven by the wind and waves. One of those regular duties was taking soundings and observing the way the waves and tides were moving. While so engaged, it next says, “the sailors suspected some land to approach them.”

Here, Luke introduces a new word, nautés. It signifies a sailor or shipman. It will be seen again in verse 27:30 and once in Revelation 18:17. It comes from naus, a ship or vessel. That will be seen only in verse 27:41.

The sailors were trained to know the changes in the environment around them, including what was going on around and under them. While being tossed back and forth in this larger area at midnight on their fourteenth day, they could tell land was close by.

This was possibly because of hearing breakers or being able to determine the way the sea moves and appears closer to land. The wording is more nautical than many English translations which place the movement on the part of the ship as it approaches the land. Instead, the Greek puts the movement on the land as it approaches the ship.

Life application: The sailors were trained to tell what was going on around them in relation to the sea. An inexperienced person would not notice these subtle changes. This is true with any job.

A wastewater operator can tell by observing a sample of a million-gallon tank if the contents are healthy or not by simply checking the amount of dissolved oxygen that is in the tank and through a quick microscopic check of the types of bacteria that are thriving.

These things take experience and constant attention to what the job entails. The Bible is a manual for man to understand his surroundings, to get a comprehension of what is going on in relation to sin, to God’s prophetic timeline, and so forth. One cannot rightly pay attention to these things if he is not aware of what the manual says.

And more, one cannot tell what is his state, the state of his family, the state of his church, and even of the world around him if he is not carefully observing these things based on the knowledge the Bible provides. If constantly checking microorganisms in a sample of a tank of wastewater is important, how much more important is it for that same person to continuously check the state of his relationship with the Lord?

Let us pay heed and give the necessary time it takes each day to learn more about this most important of all issues.

Lord God, may our lives be filled with pursuing the knowledge of You more and more. May we never fail to check with the Bible on issues relating to the things it teaches, becoming attuned to the state of things around us at all times. It is a sure way to keep from the harms that are bound to arise in this fallen world. Thank You for Your word, O God. Amen.