Acts 27:18

σφοδρῶς δὴ χειμαζ. ἡμῶν : “and as we laboured exceedingly with the storm,” R.V., Ramsay, Rendall, a regular nautical and classical term; cf. Thuc., ii., 25; iii., 69; viii., 99; Plato, Ion, 540 B. In Attic Greek usually σφόδρα, but cf. LXX, Joshua 3:16, Sir 13:13, 4Ma 6:11; only here in N.T. Weiss thinks that it is used to express how severely they were distressed by the storm. τῇ ἑξῆς … καὶ τῇ τρίτῃ, cf. Luke 13:32, connected with the words which follow in R.V. and by Ramsay. For τῇ ἑξ. cf. Luke 7:11 (but see W.H [417]), Acts 9:37, and above on Acts 21:1; Acts 25:17; nowhere else in N.T. ἐκβολὴν ἐποιοῦντο : “they began to throw the freight overboard,” R.V., Ramsay, Felten, a technical term, so in classical Greek, for throwing out cargo to lighten a ship; Latin jactura, LXX, Jonah 1:5, with τῶν σκευῶν, and Julius Pollux, i., 99, who also has the phrase κουφίσαι τὴν ναῦν, cf. Acts 27:38 below. The imperfect marks that they began by throwing away the cargo, probably what was on deck, so that the vessel would ship less water; and in Acts 27:19 they cast out (ἔῤῥιψαν, aorist) the furniture of the ship, its fittings and equipment, anything movable lying on the deck upon which the passengers could lay their hands (αὐτόχειρες only here in N.T. representing the haste, Weiss). Others include under the word the actual baggage of the passengers, but we should have expected ἡμῶν instead of τοῦ πλοίου, whilst others explain of beds and crockery, tables, etc., furniture in this sense (Zöckler and Felten, exclusive of beds which were not in use). Breusing rejects this interpretation as “too silly,” and he thinks that the expression really means that by thus throwing overboard the poles and tackling, room was found for the crowd of passengers on the deck, as the hatchways could not be kept open, since the heavy sea would have swamped the ship, p. 186. J. Smith takes σκεύη to mean the mainyard, but the word is here apparently used in a more general sense, as above, R.V., margin, “furniture of the ship”.

[417] Westcott and Hort's The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.