Acts 27:19

19 On the third day they threw the ship's equipment overboard.

Acts 27:19 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 27:19

And the third day
From the time this storm began, and this tempestuous weather held:

we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship;
by which seems to be meant their naval stores and instruments, as sails, ropes, cables, anchors and yet we afterwards read of their anchors and main sail: it may be rendered, "the furniture of the ship"; and yet it cannot design the ship's provisions, at least all were not cast away; for afterwards mention is made of casting out the wheat into the sea: many versions render it, "the armament of the ship"; and the Ethiopic version adds, "and arms"; the soldiers' arms, and others which belonged to the ship, which were brought with them to defend themselves against an enemy: these, the historian says, "we cast out"; the Apostle Paul's company, Luke and others; but not without the leave and order of the centurion and governor of the ship: the Alexandrian copy, and some others, and the Vulgate Latin version read, "they cast out": which seems most probable.

Acts 27:19 In-Context

17 The men pulled it up on deck. Then they passed ropes under the ship to reinforce it. Fearing that they would hit the large sandbank off the shores of Libya, they lowered the sail and were carried along by the wind.
18 We continued to be tossed so violently by the storm that the next day the men began to throw the cargo overboard.
19 On the third day they threw the ship's equipment overboard.
20 For a number of days we couldn't see the sun or the stars. The storm wouldn't let up. It was so severe that we finally began to lose any hope of coming out of it alive.
21 Since hardly anyone wanted to eat, Paul stood among them and said, "Men, you should have followed my advice not to sail from Crete. You would have avoided this disaster and loss.
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