Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 27:20

"And when neither sun nor stars shone upon [us] for many days, and no small tempest lay on [us,] all hope that we should be saved was now taken away." — Acts 27:20 (ASV)

When neither sun nor stars in many days appeared.—We have to remember that before the invention of the compass, the sun and stars were the only guides of sailors who were out of sight of land. Now the sky was overcast, and this guidance failed. The ship was driving, but they did not know where to.

All hope that we should be saved was then taken away.—Better, finally, or at last. The failure of all hope implies some other cause of fear in addition to the mere violence of the gale, and the successive attempts to lighten the ship make it all but certain that she had sprung a leak, which their efforts were powerless to stop. The lack of proper food (see next verse), and the exhaustion of prolonged labor, naturally aggravated the feeling of despair.