Bible Strands
Acts 27:38
After the men had eaten their fill, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator describes the passengers and crew aboard Paul’s vessel during a storm, immediately after they have eaten and before daylight reveals a bay with a sandy beach.
The words — The Greek ἐκοὐφίζον (ekouphizon) translates literally as "they were lightening," while ἐκβαλλόμενοι (ekballomenoi) means "casting out," both describing the physical removal of the grain.
The thread — The text records the practical jettisoning of cargo, which runs parallel to the sailors’ desperate measures in Jonah 1:5, while the mention of eating stands in contrast to the warning against anxiety over sustenance in Matthew 6:25.
Why it lands — The passage states that survival required discarding the grain, asking the reader to acknowledge that preservation of life demands concrete action rather than passive waiting.
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 when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea.
Cross-references
- Jonah 1:5 The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the ship’s cargo into the sea to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down to the lowest part of the vessel, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.
- Matthew 6:25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
- Matthew 16:26 What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
- Acts 27:18 We were tossed so violently that the next day the men began to jettison the cargo.
- Job 2:4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give up all he owns in exchange for his life.
- Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us.