inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Acts 27:18)

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).

throw the cargo overboard

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)

complete verse (Acts 27:18)

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)

Translation commentary on Acts 27:18

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 .