Bible Strands
Acts 27:30
Meanwhile, the sailors attempted to escape from the ship. Pretending to lower anchors from the bow, they let the lifeboat down into the sea.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrative describes the sailors' actions during the storm as the ship nears land, positioned between their dropping of anchors from the stern and Paul's warning to the centurion.
The words — ζητούντων (zētountōn) translates as "seeking" or "attempting," and φυγεῖν (phugein) means "to flee," together forming the phrase "attempted to escape."
The thread — The lifeboat is first secured by the crew near Cauda (Acts 27:16) and later cut adrift by soldiers following Paul's directive (Acts 27:32).
Why it lands — The text reports the sailors' deception in lowering the boat, which establishes the practical necessity of keeping the crew aboard for the ship's survival. Readers must acknowledge that human attempts to abandon the vessel directly jeopardize the safety of everyone aboard.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And 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,
Cross-references
- Acts 27:16 Passing to the lee of a small island called Cauda, we barely managed to secure the lifeboat.
- Acts 27:32 So the soldiers cut the ropes to the lifeboat and set it adrift.