Act 27:42 | NETfull | STEP | Now the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners so that none of them would escape by swimming away.

Acts 27:42

42 Now the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners ^{▼▼ The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners. The issue here was not cruelty, but that the soldiers would be legally responsible if any prisoners escaped and would suffer punishment themselves. So they were planning to do this as an act of self-preservation. See Acts 16:27 for a similar incident.} so that none of them would escape by swimming away. ^{▼▼ The participle ἐκκολυμβήσας (ekkolumbēsas) has been taken instrumentally.}