Acts 27:28

They took soundings ¹  and found the water was twenty fathoms ²  deep; when they had sailed a little farther ³  they took soundings again and found it was fifteen fathoms ⁴  deep.

They took soundings and found that the water was one hundred and twenty feet deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet deep.

They took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms; and a little farther on they took another sounding and found it to be fifteen fathoms.

They took soundings and found the water was only 120 feet deep. A little later they sounded again and found only 90 feet.

Sounding, they measured a depth of one hundred twenty feet, and shortly after that ninety feet.

And they let down the lead, and saw that the sea was a hundred and twenty feet deep; and after a little time they did it again and it was ninety feet.

So they took soundings and found twenty fathoms; a little farther on they took soundings again and found fifteen fathoms.

And they took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms; and when they had gone a little farther, they took soundings again and found it to be fifteen fathoms.

They took soundings ¹  and found the water was twenty fathoms ²  deep; when they had sailed a little farther ³  they took soundings again and found it was fifteen fathoms ⁴  deep.

¹ tn Grk “Heaving the lead, they found.” The participle βολίσαντες (bolisante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. See also BDAG 180 s.v. βολίζω. Although the term is used twice in this verse (and thus is technically not a NT hapax legomenon), it occurs nowhere else in the NT.

² sn A fathom is about 6 feet or just under 2 meters (originally the length of a man’s outstretched arms). This was a nautical technical term for measuring the depth of water. Here it was about 120 ft (36 m).

³ tn L&N 15.12, “βραχὺ δὲ διαστήσαντες ‘when they had gone a little farther’ Ac 27:28.”

⁴ sn Here the depth was about 90 ft (27 m).