Paragraph 27:33–38

27:33a

Right up to daybreak: This refers to the time when there is light in the sky but the sun has not yet come up. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

As day was about to dawn (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
When it was almost sunrise

Paul kept urging: The Greek tense on the verb probably indicates that Paul continued doing this for some time. Other ways to translate this are:

Paul was encouraging (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
Paul began persuading (New Century Version)

27:33b–34c is what Paul said when he urged them.

27:33b

“Today is your fourteenth day: The Greek words begin with the word “saying.” It indicates that the words in 27:33b–34c are what Paul spoke to urge the people to eat. For example:

saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that (Revised Standard Version)

Today is your fourteenth day: The Greek words are literally “Today (is) the fourteenth day.” It indicates that the people were in constant suspense for the whole time of the storm and that day was the fourteenth day of the storm. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

Today is the fourteenth day that (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
for fourteen days now (Good News Translation)

27:33c

in constant suspense: This clause in Greek is literally “you continue waiting.” Paul implied that they have waited all this time to see if they would die in the storm or not. Other ways to translate this clause are:

You have been waiting (Good News Translation)
-or-
you have been waiting and watching (New Century Version)
-or-
you have been in constant suspense (New International Version)
-or-
you have lived in suspense (Revised English Bible)

without taking any food: This phrase in Greek is literally “with a loss of appetite.” During the storm they had little desire to eat, because of seasickness or worry. Other ways to translate this Greek word are:

not desiring to eat
-or-
not wanting to eat

See how you translated this clause in 27:21 (“had gone…without food”).

27:33d

without taking any food: This clause in Greek is literally “having taken nothing.” It explains 27:33c and emphasizes they have not eaten at all. They had no desire to eat, and they did not force themselves to eat either. Other ways to translate this clause are:

having eaten nothing (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
you haven’t eaten a thing (Contemporary English Version)

© 2001, 2021 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.