Acts 27:18

18 As we were violently storm-tossed, they began next day to throw the cargo overboard;

Acts 27:18 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 27:18

And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest
Sometimes being lifted up as it were to the heavens, and then presently sinking down, as if they were going into the bottom of the sea; such a condition at sea is described to the life by the Psalmist, in ( Psalms 107:25-27 ) .

the next day they lightened the ship;
of its burden, its lading, the goods and merchandise that were in it; as the mariners did in the ship in which Jonah was, ( Jonah 1:5 ) the Ethiopic version renders it, "they cast the goods into the sea"; the Arabic version, the "merchandise".

Acts 27:18 In-Context

16 And running under the lee of a small island called Cauda, we managed with difficulty to secure the boat;
17 after hoisting it up, they took measures to undergird the ship; then, fearing that they should run on the Syr'tis, they lowered the gear, and so were driven.
18 As we were violently storm-tossed, they began next day to throw the cargo overboard;
19 and the third day they cast out with their own hands the tackle of the ship.
20 And when neither sun nor stars appeared for many a day, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.