OET interlinear ACTs 27:17

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

βοηθείαις ἐχρῶντο, ὑποζωννύντες τὸ πλοῖον

˱to˲_helps ˱they˲_/were/_resorting undergirding the ship

The word helps is a nautical term that means ropes or cables. The word undergirding describes the process of running ropes or cables around the bottom of a ship so that the ship will not come apart during a storm. If your language does not have comparable nautical terms, you could state the meaning plainly in your translation. Alternate translation: “they were tying ropes around the bottom of the ship so that it would not come apart during the storm”

Note 2 topic: writing-pronouns

ἐχρῶντο

˱they˲_/were/_resorting

Here and in the next two verses, the pronoun they refers to the sailors of the ship. It may be helpful to clarify this for your readers. Alternate translation: “the sailors were using”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

μὴ εἰς τὴν Σύρτιν ἐκπέσωσιν

lest into the_‹shallows_of› Syrtis ˱they˲_/may/_run_aground

The expression fall into is a nautical term that in this context describes a ship becoming stuck in quicksand. If your language does not have a comparable nautical term, you could state the meaning plainly in your translation. Alternate translation: “they might run aground on the Syrtis”

Note 4 topic: translate-names

τὴν Σύρτιν

the_‹shallows_of› Syrtis

The word Syrtis is the name of a large mass of quicksand near the north coast of Africa.

Note 5 topic: translate-unknown

τὴν Σύρτιν

the_‹shallows_of› Syrtis

Quicksand, which the word Syrtis describes, is sand that is saturated with water. It does not support the weight of a person, so sailors cannot get out of a ship to free it if the ship gets stuck in quicksand. If your readers would not be familiar with quicksand, you could describe it generally in your translation. Alternate translation: “the large mass of waterlogged sand off the north coast of Africa”

Note 6 topic: translate-unknown

χαλάσαντες τὸ σκεῦος

/having/_lowered the gear

The term gear could mean: (1) the sails of the ship and the rigging that the sailors uses to raise and lower the sails. If this is the meaning, then Luke is saying that without sails, the sailors could not steer the ship and it had to go wherever the wind drove it. Alternate translation: “taking down the sails” (2) a sea anchor, that is, some object that the sailors would drag along in the water behind the ship in order to slow the ship down. If this is the meaning, then the sailors lowered this sea anchor in the hopes that the storm would end before they reached the quicksand. Alternate translation: “putting a sea anchor into the water”

Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

ἐφέροντο

˱they˲_/were_being/_driven_along

If your language does not use this passive form, you could express the idea in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. Alternate translation: “the wind was driving them along”