And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship;
Parallel translations
- WEB As we labored exceedingly with the storm, the next day they began to throw things overboard.
- BSB We were tossed so violently that the next day the men began to jettison the cargo.
- NKJV And because we were exceedingly tempest-tossed, the next day they lightened the ship.
- NASB The next day as we were being violently tossed by the storm, they began to jettison the cargo;
- NLT The next day, as gale-force winds continued to batter the ship, the crew began throwing the cargo overboard.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Battered by the storm, the next day they begin throwing cargo overboard.
Overview
To lighten the foundering ship they jettison its load, sacrificing valuable goods to survive. The mounting losses fulfill part of Paul's earlier warning. The scene of desperate men casting away their treasure underscores human helplessness and sets up the contrast with the hope God will give through Paul.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Jonah 1:5Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.
- Acts 27:38And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea.
- Matt 16:26For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
- Heb 12:1Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
- Acts 27:19And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship.
- Luke 16:8And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.
- Phil 3:7–8But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
- Ps 107:27They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit’s end.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Acts is the risen Christ continuing his work by the Spirit through the church, as the apostles preach that there is salvation in no other name under heaven.
How Acts 27:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.