40 Bible Verses about sailing
Most Relevant Verses
Those who go down to the sea in ships,
Who do business on great waters;
But there the mighty and magnificent Lord will be for us
A place of broad rivers and streams,
Where no oar-driven boat will go,
And on which no mighty and stately ship will pass.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
because in one hour all the vast wealth has been laid waste.’ And every ship captain or navigator, and every passenger and sailor, and all who make their living by the sea, stood a long way off,
And look at the ships. Even though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the impulse of the helmsman determines.
But even now I urge you to keep up your courage and be in good spirits, because there will be no loss of life among you, but only loss of the ship.
Sailing from there, we arrived the next day [at a point] opposite Chios; the following day we crossed over to Samos, and the next day we arrived at Miletus [about 30 miles south of Ephesus].
So setting sail from Troas, we ran a direct course to Samothrace, and the next day [went on] to Neapolis;
Now much time had been lost, and navigation was dangerous, because even [the time for] the fast (Day of Atonement) was already over, so Paul began to strongly warn them,
but after telling them goodbye and saying, “I will return again if God is willing,” he set sail from Ephesus.
“All who handle the oar,
The mariners and all the pilots of the sea
Will come down from their ships;
They will stand on the shore,
At the end of three months we set sail on a ship which had wintered at the island, an Alexandrian ship with the Twin Brothers [Castor and Pollux] as its figurehead.
Now on one of those days Jesus and His disciples got into a boat, and He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake (Sea of Galilee).” So they set out.
Then the sailors were afraid, and each man cried out to his god; and to lighten the ship [and diminish the danger] they threw the ship’s cargo into the sea. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship and had lain down and was sound asleep.
and he saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet descending, lowered by its four corners to the earth,
Now when it was determined that we (including Luke) would sail for Italy, they turned Paul and some other prisoners over to a centurion of the Augustan Regiment named Julius.
When we had torn ourselves away from them and set sail, we ran a straight course and came to Cos, and on the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara;
saying, “Men, I sense [after careful thought and observation] that this voyage will certainly be a disaster and with great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.”
and on the third day they threw the ship’s tackle (spare lines, blocks, miscellaneous equipment) overboard with their own hands [to further reduce the weight].
“Your sail was of fine embroidered linen from Egypt
So that it became your distinguishing mark (insignia);
Your [ship’s] awning [which covered you] was blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah [of Asia Minor].
and after finding a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went on board and set sail.
But as the sailors were trying to escape [secretly] from the ship and had let down the skiff into the sea, pretending that they were going to lay out anchors from the bow,
But Jonah ran away to Tarshish to escape from the presence of the Lord [and his duty as His prophet]. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish [the most remote of the Phoenician trading cities]. So he paid the fare and went down into the ship to go with them to Tarshish away from the presence of the Lord.
But the Lord hurled a great wind toward the sea, and there was a violent tempest on the sea so that the ship was about to break up.
Jehoshaphat had [large cargo] ships of Tarshish constructed to go to Ophir for gold, but they did not go, because the ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber.
But He replied to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’
and said, ‘Stop being afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has given you [the lives of] all those who are sailing with you.’
Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain on the ship, you cannot be saved.”
After they had gone a long time without food [because of seasickness and stress], Paul stood up before them and said, “Men, you should have followed my advice and should not have set sail from Crete, and brought on this damage and loss.
The fourteenth night had come and we were drifting and being driven about in the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors began to suspect that they were approaching some land.
Then the men became extremely frightened and said to him, “How could you do this?” For the men knew that he was running from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
“Your riches, your wares, your merchandise
Your oarsmen and your pilots,
Your caulkers, your dealers in merchandise,
And all your men of war who are with you,
With all your company that is in your midst,
Will sink in the heart of the seas
On the day of your ruin.
From there we put out to sea and sailed to the leeward (sheltered) side of Cyprus [for protection from weather] because the winds were against us.
Paul had decided to sail on past Ephesus so that he would not end up spending time [unnecessarily] in [the province of] Asia (modern Turkey); for he was in a hurry to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.
So they cut the cables and severed the anchors and left them in the sea while at the same time unlashing the ropes of the rudders; and after hoisting the foresail to the wind, they headed steadily for the beach.
For the king had at sea the [large cargo] ships of Tarshish with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, monkeys, and peacocks.
But we went on ahead to the ship and set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul on board there; for that was what he had arranged, intending himself to go [a shorter route] by land.
Because the harbor was not well situated for wintering, the majority [of the sailors] decided to put to sea from there, hoping somehow to reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete facing southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.