What Does Acts 27:28 Mean?
And they cast the lead and found twenty arm-spans. Having gone a little farther, they cast again and found fifteen arm-spans.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And sounded, and found it twenty fathoms: and when they had gone a little further, they sounded again, and found it fifteen fathoms.THE KEY
The second sounding reveals what the smooth surface hides: the bottom is rising toward the ship.
THE MEANING
A surface can look unchanged while the unseen ground draws nearer. The readings fall from twenty fathoms to fifteen after only a little further travel, making the shift below them clear. Here, another measurement turns approach into something they can know.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
An unchanged surface does not mean nothing beneath it is changing.
THE ROOT
βολίσαντες
bolisantes
GROWS FROM
βολ- (bol-, related to βάλλω, ballō)
Cast or throw; here, cast a weighted lead to test the depth.
“cast the lead” in this verse is bolisantes. The Greek verb βολίζω (bolizō), “sound by casting a lead,” makes the sounding an action: something is sent down to disclose what the surface conceals. The second cast registers a five-fathom change, turning hidden approach into visible evidence.
ALSO GROWS
bolis: A plummet or sounding lead
βολίς
The weighted object cast into the water gives the ship a way to find the unseen bottom.
ballō: Cast, throw
βάλλω
This related casting word opens a link to other moments where what is cast into water reveals what lies there.
THE PATTERN
A measure makes hidden extent or changing conditions visible.
And when the man with the measuring cord in his hand went out eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and brought me across the waters; the waters were to the ankles.And the LORD said to me, Amos, what do you see? And I said, A plumb line. Then the Lord said, Look, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel. I will not again cross over them any more.A reed like a rod was given to me, and the messenger stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and those who bow down in it.THE THREAD
And he said to them, "Throw the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find." So they threw it, and no longer had the strength to haul it because of the fullness of the fish.The Greek word βολίζω (bolizō), “sound by casting a lead,” belongs to the casting family of βάλλω (ballō), “cast.” In Acts, a cast weight reveals the depth; here, a cast net reveals what the water holds.
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