Acts 27:18

18 And because we were exceedingly tempest-tossed, 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 shelter of an island called Clauda, we secured the skiff with difficulty.

17 When they had taken it on board, they used cables to undergird the ship; and fearing lest they should run aground on the Syrtis Sands, they struck sail and so were driven.

18 And because we were exceedingly tempest-tossed, the next day they lightened the ship.

19 On the third day we threw the ship's tackle overboard with our own hands.

20 Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up.