Acts 27:18

18 And [because] we were violently battered by the storm, on the next [day] {they began} jettisoning [the cargo],

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 small island called Cauda, we were able with difficulty to get the ship's boat under control.

17 [After] hoisting {it up}, they made use of supports to undergird the ship. And [because they] were afraid lest they run aground on the Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor [and] thus were driven [along].

18 And [because] we were violently battered by the storm, on the next [day] {they began} jettisoning [the cargo],

19 and on the third [day] they threw overboard the gear of the ship with their own hands.

20 But [when] neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and [with] not a little bad weather confronting [us], finally all hope was abandoned [that] we would be saved.

Footnotes

• [a] *Here "[because]" is supplied as a component of the causal genitive absolute participle ("battered by the storm")
• [b] Literally "they began to carry out"
• [c] *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation