Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, translators typically select the exclusive form (only including the ship).
Source: SIL International Translation Department (1999).
The Hebrew and reek that is translated as “throw the cargo overboard” in English is translated in Mairasi as “throw the things that were on the ship into its belly.” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 27:18:
Uma: “The next day, the workers on the ship began to throw the ship’s cargo into the sea, so the ship would be light, because there was no cessation of the storm [lit., windy rain] striking us.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “The storm was still strong that’s why the next day they started to drop into the sea the cargo of the ship.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And since the typhoon was still blowing on the next day, they began to throw away the cargo of the ship so that it might not sink.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Meanwhile extreme was the action of the waves on the ship, so the next-day, they began to throw-away the cargo so it would become-lighter.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Well, we had a really hard time for that storm was in fact getting worse. Therefore next day, what they did was, they threw the cargoes into the sea so that the ship would become lighter.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
The violent storm continued translates the Greek participle “as we were being tossed about violently in the storm.” An equivalent expression in some languages is simply “the strong wind kept blowing” or “the wind kept blowing very hard.”
They began to throw the ship’s cargo overboard translates a technical nautical term which means “to jettison the ship’s cargo” (see Jerusalem Bible). This jettisoning of the ship’s cargo may be rendered in some languages as “they took what was in the ship and threw it into the water.”
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 .
We were tossed so violently: The Greek clause can be translated literally as “We being storm-tossed violently.” The wind and waves pushed the ship from side to side as well as up and down in the front and back. Other ways to translate this clause are:
As we were violently storm-tossed, (Revised Standard Version) -or-
We were being pounded by the storm so violently (New Revised Standard Version) -or-
As the storm beat violently against us -or-
The storm ⌊and waves⌋ tossed us ⌊and the ship⌋ around violently
27:18b
the men began to jettison the cargo: The Greek clause can be translated literally as “they began to do throwing out.” What they threw into the sea is not said. They did not throw equipment for sailing the ship until 27:19 and they did not throw the grain in the hold of the ship until 27:38. Each time they threw something overboard it was more important things to the ship owner, so this first time they would have thrown less important things. So it may have been:
(a) other things that the ship owner planned to sell in Rome,
(b) things that the ship owner was taking for other people,
(c) things that belonged to the passengers that were not needed to survive the storm.
Refer generally to these kinds of things in your translation. For example:
they began to throw various ⌊less important⌋ things off the ship -or-
they started throwing cargo ⌊that was not essential⌋ into the sea
Throwing these things overboard made the ship lighter, so that the ship floated higher in the water so the waves would damage it less. Some of these things may have been on the top deck of the ship, and removing them would help prevent the ship from tipping over. In some languages the purpose for throwing these things overboard may not be clear. If so, you may want to explain it in your translation. For example:
they began to throw various things off the ship ⌊to make it lighter⌋ -or-
they started throwing cargo ⌊that was not essential⌋ into the sea ⌊to help prevent the waves damaging the ship⌋
the men: The word men probably refers to the sailors here. For example:
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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