Cut off (see Moffatt, Phillips) is rendered “cast off” by the Revised Standard Version and An American Translation*. The Jerusalem Bible and the New English Bible have used the technical sailing term, “they slipped the anchors.” In some languages it will be necessary to say “cut the ropes that held the anchors” or “cut the ropes that were tied to the anchors.”

Ancient ships had steering oars, one on each side sticking out toward the back. In some languages the steering oars would be translated as “rudders” or “oars which served like rudders.” In other languages one must use a descriptive phrase such as “large oars at the back of the boat used for steering.” For languages in which there is no regular term for oar one may even use an expression such as “large pieces of wood at the back of the boat used to steer it.”

Each ship was also equipped with a mast toward the front on which a small sail could be raised. All of these actions were designed so that the wind would blow the ship forward as far as possible up on the shore. In languages in which there is no technical term for sail, one can employ “a large piece of cloth.”

The last expression, and headed for shore, may need to have as the subject “we” rather than merely “they,” since obviously all in the ship went together, not merely the sailors. On the other hand, one may also translate as “the ship moved toward the shore” or “the ship was blown toward the shore.”

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 .