Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day.
Parallel translations
- WEB Fearing that we would run aground on rocky ground, they let go four anchors from the stern, and wished for daylight.
- BSB Fearing that we would run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daybreak.
- NKJV Then, fearing lest we should run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern, and prayed for day to come.
- NASB Fearing that we might run aground somewhere on the rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and prayed for daybreak.
- NLT At this rate they were afraid we would soon be driven against the rocks along the shore, so they threw out four anchors from the back of the ship and prayed for daylight.
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
Fearing the rocks, they drop four anchors from the stern and long for daybreak.
Overview
To avoid being dashed on unseen rocks in the dark, the sailors anchor and wait anxiously for dawn. Their fear is real, yet God's promise of safety stands firm over their peril. The scene captures the tension between human dread and divine assurance, resolved as morning and rescue approach.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Acts 27:17Which when they had taken up, they used helps, undergirding the ship; and, fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, strake sail, and so were driven.
- Heb 6:19Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
- Acts 27:26Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island.
- Acts 27:40–41And when they had taken up the anchors, they committed themselves unto the sea, and loosed the rudder bands, and hoised up the mainsail to the wind, and made toward shore.
- Deut 28:67In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
- Acts 27:30And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the boat into the sea, under colour as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship,
- Ps 130:6My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.
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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.
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Original language
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