Acts 27:18

18 And being exceedingly tossed by a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship;

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 certain island, which is called Clauda, we had much work in securing the boat,

17 which when they had taken up, they used helps to undergird the ship. And fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, they struck sail, and so were driven.

18 And being exceedingly tossed by a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship;

19 and the third day we cast out with our own hands the ship's tackle.

20 And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.