27:43a

the centurion, wanting to spare Paul’s life: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as spare…life refers to bringing someone safely through a dangerous event. The centurion prevented the soldiers from killing Paul, but he was probably also thinking about getting Paul all the way to Rome. Other ways to translate this clause are:

the centurion was determined to bring Paul safely through (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
the centurion wanted to keep Paul safe/alive

centurion: Translate this word as you did in 27:31.

27:43b

thwarted their plan: This refers to preventing the soldiers from doing as they had planned. He ordered them to not kill the prisoners. Other ways to translate this are:

and he did not let the soldiers do what they had planned (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
so he stopped them from doing this (Good News Translation)

27:43c

those who could swim: This refers to the prisoners and soldiers who could swim.

to jump overboard first: This refers to leaving the ship. Those that could swim would go first. For example:

to jump into the water first (New Century Version)

get to land: This implies that the swimmers would swim to land. For example:

swim ashore (Good News Translation)

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