This verse and the following comprise one sentence in Greek. Verse 30 is actually a subordinate clause dependent upon the main verb said in verse 31.

The first clause in this verse states the purpose of the sailors, and the remainder of the verse describes the manner in which they were trying to escape. This relationship needs to be made quite clear—for example, “the sailors tried to escape from the ship by lowering the boat into the water” or “in order to try to escape from the ship, the sailors lowered the boat into the water.”

It may be necessary in some instances to indicate specifically what the boat is, that is, “the small boat that was tied on deck.”

The verb pretended is rendered in some languages as “they said, we are going to put out….”

From the front of the ship translates a technical Greek term denoting the “bow” of a ship. Already the back of the ship was being held firmly by anchors, and the sailors’ statement that they wished to put out anchors in the front of the ship was obviously an attempt to get away from the ship and thus to escape with their own lives.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .