Bible Thesaurus: Ships

Jump to: ISBE • Easton's • Concordance • Thesaurus • Greek • Hebrew • Library • Subtopics • Terms

Thesaurus

Ships (46 Occurrences)
... 13). Moses (Deuteronomy 28:68) and Job (9:26) make reference to them, and
Balaam speaks of the "ships of Chittim" (Numbers 24:24). ...
/s/ships.htm - 53k

Tarshish-ships (3 Occurrences)
Tarshish-ships. Tarshish-ship, Tarshish-ships. Tarsus .
Multi-Version Concordance Tarshish-ships (3 Occurrences). 1 ...
/t/tarshish-ships.htm - 7k

Trading-ships (1 Occurrence)
Trading-ships. Trading, Trading-ships. Tradition . Multi-Version
Concordance Trading-ships (1 Occurrence). Proverbs ...
/t/trading-ships.htm - 6k

Merchant-ships (1 Occurrence)
Merchant-ships. Merchant's, Merchant-ships. Mercies . Multi-Version
Concordance Merchant-ships (1 Occurrence). Proverbs ...
/m/merchant-ships.htm - 6k

Tarshish (24 Occurrences)
... Some think there was a Tarshish in the East, on the Indian coast, seeing that "ships
of Tarshish" sailed from Eziongeber, on the Red Sea (1 Kings 9:26; 22:48 ...
/t/tarshish.htm - 17k

Trading (24 Occurrences)
... (See NIV). 1 Kings 22:48 Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold:
but they didn't go; for the ships were broken at Ezion Geber. (See NIV). ...
/t/trading.htm - 13k

Ezion-geber (6 Occurrences)
... end of the Elanitic branch of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Akabah, near Elath or Eloth
(Numbers 33:35; Deuteronomy 2:8). Here Solomon built ships, "Tarshish ships...
/e/ezion-geber.htm - 10k

Fleet (7 Occurrences)
... 1 Kings 9:26 And king Solomon made a fleet of ships in Ezion-Geber, which is beside
Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. (DBY NAS RSV). ...
/f/fleet.htm - 9k

Geber (9 Occurrences)
... 1 Kings 9:26 King Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion Geber, which is beside
Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. ...
/g/geber.htm - 10k

Ezion (7 Occurrences)
... 1 Kings 9:26 King Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion Geber, which is beside
Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. ...
/e/ezion.htm - 8k

Bible Concordance

Ships (46 Occurrences)

Mark 4:36 And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.
(KJV DBY)

Luke 5:2 And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets.
(KJV DBY)

Luke 5:3 And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship.
(KJV DBY)

Luke 5:7 And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.
(KJV DBY)

Luke 5:11 And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.
(KJV DBY)

John 6:23 (but other little ships out of Tiberias came near to the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks;)
(DBY)

John 6:24 when therefore the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they got into the ships, and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
(DBY)

James 3:4 Behold, the ships also, though they are so big and are driven by fierce winds, are yet guided by a very small rudder, wherever the pilot desires.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Revelation 8:9 and one third of the living creatures which were in the sea died. One third of the ships were destroyed.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Revelation 18:17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
(KJV WBS YLT)

Revelation 18:19 They cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and mourning, saying,'Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had their ships in the sea were made rich by reason of her great wealth!' For in one hour is she made desolate.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Genesis 49:13 "Zebulun will dwell at the haven of the sea. He will be for a haven of ships. His border will be on Sidon.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Numbers 24:24 But ships shall come from the coast of Kittim. They shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber. He also shall come to destruction."
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Deuteronomy 28:68 Yahweh will bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I said to you, You shall see it no more again: and there you shall sell yourselves to your enemies for bondservants and for bondmaids, and no man shall buy you.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Judges 5:17 Gilead lived beyond the Jordan. Why did Dan remain in ships? Asher sat still at the haven of the sea, and lived by his creeks.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

1 Kings 9:26 King Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion Geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS NAS RSV NIV)

1 Kings 10:11 The navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees and precious stones.
(See NAS NIV)

1 Kings 10:22 For the king had Tarshish-ships at sea with the ships of Hiram; once every three years the Tarshish-ships came with gold and silver and ivory and monkeys and peacocks.
(BBE NAS RSV NIV)

1 Kings 22:48 Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they didn't go; for the ships were broken at Ezion Geber.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

1 Kings 22:49 Then Ahaziah the son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, "Let my servants go with your servants in the ships." But Jehoshaphat would not.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

2 Chronicles 8:18 Huram sent him ships and servants who had knowledge of the sea by the hands of his servants; and they came with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and fetched from there four hundred fifty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

2 Chronicles 9:21 For the king had ships that went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram; once every three years came the ships of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

2 Chronicles 20:36 and he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish; and they made the ships in Ezion Geber.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

2 Chronicles 20:37 Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because you have joined yourself with Ahaziah, Yahweh has destroyed your works. The ships were broken, so that they were not able to go to Tarshish.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Job 9:26 They have passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that swoops on the prey.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV WBS YLT)

Psalms 48:7 With the east wind, you break the ships of Tarshish.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Psalms 104:26 There the ships go, and leviathan, whom you formed to play there.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Psalms 107:23 Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business in great waters;
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Proverbs 31:14 She is like the merchant ships. She brings her bread from afar.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Isaiah 2:16 For all the ships of Tarshish, and for all pleasant imagery.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Isaiah 18:2 Which sends its representatives by the sea, even in ships of papyrus on the waters. Go back quickly, O representatives, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people causing fear through all their history; a strong nation, crushing down its haters, whose land is cut through by rivers.
(BBE)

Isaiah 23:1 The burden of Tyre. Howl, you ships of Tarshish! For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. From the land of Kittim it is revealed to them.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Isaiah 23:14 Howl, you ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste!
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Isaiah 43:14 Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "For your sake, I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring all of them down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV)

Isaiah 60:9 Surely the islands shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, for the name of Yahweh your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Ezekiel 26:18 Now the sea-lands will be shaking in the day of your fall; and all the ships on the sea will be overcome with fear at your going.
(BBE)

Ezekiel 27:5 Of firs of Senir they have built to thee all thy double-boarded ships, Of cedars of Lebanon they have taken to make a mast for thee,
(YLT)

Ezekiel 27:8 The people of Zidon and Arvad were your boatmen; the wise men of Zemer were in you; they were guiding your ships;
(BBE)

Ezekiel 27:9 The old men of Gebal and the wise men of it were in you your repairers of ship seams: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you to deal in your merchandise.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Ezekiel 27:25 The ships of Tarshish were your caravans for your merchandise: and you were replenished, and made very glorious in the heart of the seas.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Ezekiel 27:27 Your wealth and your goods, the things in which you do trade, your seamen and those guiding your ships, those who make your boards watertight, and those who do business with your goods, and all your men of war who are in you, with all who have come together in you, will go down into the heart of the seas in the day of your downfall.
(BBE)

Ezekiel 27:28 At the sound of the cry of your ships' guides, the boards of the ship will be shaking.
(BBE)

Ezekiel 27:29 All who handled the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships; they shall stand on the land,
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Ezekiel 30:9 In that day shall messengers go forth from before me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid; and there shall be anguish on them, as in the day of Egypt; for, behold, it comes.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV)

Daniel 11:30 For ships of Kittim shall come against him; therefore he shall be grieved, and shall return, and have indignation against the holy covenant, and shall do his pleasure : he shall even return, and have regard to those who forsake the holy covenant.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Daniel 11:40 At the time of the end shall the king of the south contend with him; and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass through.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Early used in foreign commerce by the Phoenicians (Genesis 49:13). Moses (Deuteronomy 28:68) and Job (9:26) make reference to them, and Balaam speaks of the "ships of Chittim" (Numbers 24:24). Solomon constructed a navy at Ezion-geber by the assistance of Hiram's sailors (1 Kings 9:26-28; 2 Chronicles 8:18). Afterwards, Jehoshaphat sought to provide himself with a navy at the same port, but his ships appear to have been wrecked before they set sail (1 Kings 22:48, 49; 2 Chronicles 20:35-37).

In our Lord's time fishermen's boats on the Sea of Galilee were called "ships." Much may be learned regarding the construction of ancient merchant ships and navigation from the record in Acts 27, 28.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

SHIPS AND BOATS

" I. THE HEBREWS AND THE SEA

II. SHIPS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE APOCRYPHA

1. Among the Hebrews

(1) In Early Times

(2) During the Monarchy

(3) In Later Times

2. Among Neighboring Nations

(1) Egypt

(2) Assyria and Babylonia

(3) Phoenicia

3. General References

III. SHIPS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

1. In the Gospels

2. In the Acts of the Apostles

3. In Other Books

LITERATURE

In the Old Testament the following words are found:

(1) The word most commonly used in Hebrew for "a ship" is 'oniyah (Proverbs 30:19 Jonah 1:3, 4), of which the plural 'oniyoth is found most frequently (Judges 5:17 1 Kings 22:48 f, and many other places).

The collective term for "a navy of ships" is 'oni (1 Kings 9:26; 1 Kings 10:22, 'oni Tharshish, "a navy (of ships) of Tarshish"; but Isaiah 33:21, 'oni shayit, a "galley with oars").

(2) tsi (Numbers 24:24 Ezekiel 30:9 Isaiah 33:21), tsi 'addir, "gallant ship"; Daniel 11:30, tsiyim Kittim, "ships of Kittim.'

(3) cephinah, "innermost parts of the ship" the Revised Version (British and American), "sides of the ship" the King James Version (Jonah 1:5, the only place where the word is found).

In Apocrypha ploion, is the usual word (The Wisdom of Solomon 14:1; Ecclesiasticus 33:2, etc.), translated "vessel" in The Wisdom of Solomon 14:1, but "ship" elsewhere. For "ship" The Wisdom of Solomon 5:10 has naus. "Boat" in 2 Maccabees 12:3, 6 is for skaphos, and "navy" in 1 Maccabees 1:17; 2 Maccabees 12:9; 14:1 for stolos. In The Wisdom of Solomon 14:6 Noah's ark is called a schedia, a "clumsy ship" (the literal translation "raft" in the Revised Version (British and American) is impossible).

In the New Testament there are four words in use:

(1) naus (Acts 27:41, the only place where it occurs, designating the large sea-going vessel in which Paul suffered shipwreck).

(2) ploiarion, "a little boat" (Mark 3:9 and two other places, John 6:22; 21:8).

(3) ploion, "boat" (Matthew 4:21, 22 and many other places in the Gospels-the ordinary fishingboat of the Sea of Galilee rendered "boat" uniformly in the Revised Version (British and American) instead of "ship" the King James Version), "ship" (Acts 20:13, and all other places where the ship carrying Paul is mentioned, except Acts 27:41, as above). In James 3:4 Revelation 8:9; Revelation 18:17;, it is rendered "ship."

(4) skaphe, "boat" (Acts 27:16, 30, 32, where it means the small boat of the ship in which Paul was being conveyed as a prisoner to Rome).

Cognate expressions are: "shipmen," 'anshe 'oniyoth (1 Kings 9:27); nautai (Acts 27:27, 30 the King James Version, "sailors" the Revised Version (British and American)); "mariners," mallachim (Jonah 1:15 Ezekiel 27:9, 27, 29), shaTim (Ezekiel 27:8 the King James Version, "rowers" the Revised Version (British and American); Ezekiel 27:26, the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American)); "pilot," chobhel (Jonah 1:6 Ezekiel 27:8, 27, 28, 29); "sailing," "voyage," plous (Acts 21:7; Acts 27:9, 10, the Revised Version (British and American) "voyage" in all verses).

I. The Hebrews and the Sea.

The Hebrews were a pastoral and agricultural people, and had no inducements to follow a seafaring life. They were possessed of a considerable seaboard along the Mediterranean, but the character of their coast gave little encouragement to navigation. The coast line of the land of Israel from Carmel southward had no bays and no estuaries or river-mouths to offer shelter from storm or to be havens of ships. Solomon landed his timber and other materials for the Temple at Joppa, and tradition has handed down what is called "Solomon's Harbor" there. The builders of the second temple also got timber from Lebanon and conveyed it to Joppa. It was Simon Maccabeus, however, who built its harbor, and the harbor at Joppa was "the first and only harbor of the Jews" (G. A. Smith, HGHL, 136). Caesarea in New Testament times was a place of shipping and possessed a harbor which Josephus declared to be greater than the Piraeus, but it was Herodian and more Greek and Roman than Jewish. It was mostly inhabited by Greeks (Josephus, BJ, III, ix, 1). Now Caesarea has disappeared; and Joppa has only an open roadstead where vessels lie without shelter, and receive and discharge cargo and passengers by means of boats plying between them and the shore. It was in other directions that Israel made acquaintance with the activities of the sea. Of internal navigation, beyond the fishing-boats on the Sea of Galilee which belong exclusively to the New Testament, the ferry boat on the Jordan (2 Samuel 19:18, `abharah) alone receives notice, and even that is not perfectly clear (the Revised Version margin "convoy," but a "ford" is doubtless meant). It is from Tyre and Egypt and even Assyria and Babylonia, rather than from their own waters, that the Hebrew prophets and psalmists drew their pictures of seafaring life.

II. Ships in the Old Testament and Apocrypha.

1. Among the Hebrews:

(1) In Early Times.

In the early books of the Old Testament there are references connecting certain of the tribes, and these northern tribes, with the activities of the sea. In the "Blessing of Jacob" and in the "Blessing of Moses" Zebulun and Issachar are so connected (Genesis 49:13 Deuteronomy 33:19); and in Deborah's Song, which is acknowledged to be a very early fragment of Hebrew literature, Dan and Asher are also spoken of as connected with the life and work of the sea (Judges 5:17). The Oracle of Balaam (Numbers 24:24) looks forward to a day when a fleet from Kittim should take the sea for the destruction of Assyria. "Ships of Kittim" are mentioned in Daniel (11:30). Kittim is referred to in the three greater Prophets (Isaiah 23:1, 12 Jeremiah 2:10 Ezekiel 27:6). The land of Kittim is Cyprus, and in the references in Isaiah it is associated with Tyre and the ships of Tarshish.

(2) During the Monarchy.

It is not till the time of the monarchy that the Hebrews begin to figure as a commercial people. Already in the time of David commercial relations had been established between Israel and Tyre (2 Samuel 5:11 f). The friendly cooperation was continued by Solomon, who availed himself not only of the cedar and the fir at Hiram's command on Lebanon, but also of the skilled service of Hiram's men to bring the timber from the mountains to the sea. Hiram also undertook to make the cedar and the fir into rafts (1 Kings 5:9, dobheroth, the King James Version "floats"; 2 Chronicles 2:16, raphcodhoth, "flotes" the King James Version, "floats" the Revised Version (British and American)) to go by sea and to deliver them to Solomon's men at the place appointed, which the Chronicler tells us was Joppa. From this cooperation in the building of the Temple there grew up a larger connection in the pursuit of sea-borne commerce. It was at Ezion-geber near to Eloth on the Red Sea, in the land of Edom which David had conquered, that Solomon built his fleet, "a navy of ships" (1 Kings 9:26-28). Hiram joined Solomon in these enterprises which had their center on the Red Sea, and thus the Phoenicians had water communication with the coasts of Arabia and Africa, and even of India. The same partnership existed for the commerce of the West. "For the king (Solomon) had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram: once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks" (1 Kings 10:22).

Tarshish is the name of the Phoenician colony on the river Tartessus, called also Baetis, the modern Guadalquivir. It was the farthest limit of the western world as known to the Hebrews. Attempts have been made to identify it with Tarsus of Cilicia, but they are not convincing. It is conceived of in Hebrew literature as remote (Isaiah 66:19 Jonah 1:3; Jonah 4:2), as rich (Psalm 72:10 Jeremiah 10:9), as powerful in commerce (Ezekiel 38:13). Ships of Tarshish were no doubt ships actually built for the Tarshish trade (2 Chronicles 20:36 Jonah 1:3), but the expression became a general designation for large sea-going vessels to any quarter. Ships of Tarshish made a deep impression upon the imagination of the Hebrew people. The Psalmist takes it as a proof of the power of Yahweh that He breaks the ships of Tarshish with an east wind (Psalm 48:7). Isaiah includes them among the great and lofty objects of power and glory which the terror of the Lord would certainly overtake (Isaiah 2:16). Ezekiel regards them as the caravans that bore the merchandise of the mistress of the sea (Ezekiel 27:25). It is in ships of Tarshish that the prophet of the Return sees the exiles borne in crowds to Jerusalem as their natural home (Isaiah 60:9).

From Solomon's time onward the kings of Judah retained their hold upon Eloth (1 Kings 22:48 2 Chronicles 20:35-37) till it was seized by the Syrians in the days of Ahaz (2 Kings 16:6).

(3) In Later Times.

As Solomon had the cooperation of Hiram in securing material and craftsmen for the building of the first Temple, so Joshua and Zerubbabel by the favor of Cyrus obtained timber from Lebanon, and masons and carpenters from Sidon and Tyre for the building of the second. Again, cedar trees were brought from Lebanon by sea to Joppa, and thence conveyed to Jerusalem (Ezra 3:7).

From Joppa Jonah fled to avoid compliance with God's command to go to Nineveh and preach repentance there (Jonah 1:1). He found a ship bound for Tarshish as far toward the West as Nineveh to the East. The fare (cakhar) paid by him as a passenger, the hold of the ship in which he stowed himself away (cephinah), the crew (mallachim) the captain or shipmaster (rabh ha-chobhel), the storm, the angry sea, the terrified mariners and their cry to their gods, and the casting of Jonah overboard to appease the raging waters-all make a lifelike picture.

It was in the time of Simon, the last survivor of the Maccabean brothers, that Joppa became a seaport with a harbor for shipping-"Amid all his glory he took Joppa for a haven, and made it an entrance for the isles of the sea" (1 Maccabees 14:5). When Simon reared his monument over the sepulcher of his father and brothers at Modin, he set up seven pyramids with pillars, upon which were carved figures of ships to be "seen of all that sail on the sea" (1 Maccabees 13:29). About this period we hear of ships in naval warfare. When Antiochus IV Epiphanes planned his expedition against Egypt, he had with other armaments "a great navy," presumably ships of war (1 Maccabees 1:17); and at a later time Antiochus VII speaks expressly of "ships of war" (1 Maccabees 15:3).

2. Among Neighboring Nations:

(1) Egypt.

The Egyptians, like other nations of antiquity, had a great horror of the open sea, although they were expert enough in managing their craft upon the Nile. Pharaoh-necoh built up a powerful navy to serve him both in commerce and in war.

SeePHARAOH-NECOH.

Of explicit references to Egyptian ships in the Old Testament there are but few. Isaiah speaks of "vessels of papyrus upon the waters" of the Upper Nile, on board of which are the messengers of Cush or Ethiopia returning to tell the tidings of the overthrow of Assyria to the inhabitants of those remote lands (18:2 the King James Version has "bulrushes" instead of "papyrus"). Ezekiel also, foretelling the overthrow of Egypt, speaks of messengers traveling with the news on swift Nile boats to strike terror into the hearts of the "careless Ethiopians" (30:9). When Job compares his days to "the swift ships" ("the ships of reed" the Revised Version margin), the allusion is most likely to Egypt's, these being skiffs with a wooden keel and the rest of bulrushes, sufficient to carry one person, or at most two, and light, to travel swiftly (9:26).

(2) Assyria and Babylonia.

The Assyrians and Babylonians were mainly an inland people, but their rivers gave them considerable scope for navigation. The Assyrian monuments contain representations of naval engagements and of operations on the seacoast. When Isaiah pictures Yahweh as a better defense of Judah than the rivers and streams of Assyria and Egypt are to their people he says, "There Yahweh will be with us in majesty, a place of broad rivers and streams, wherein shall go no galley with oars ('oni shayiT), neither shall gallant ship (tsi 'addir) pass thereby..... Thy tacklings (ropes, cables) are loosed; they could not strengthen the foot of their mast, they could not spread the sail" (Isaiah 33:21, 23). Speaking of Yahweh's wonders to be performed toward His people after Babylon had been overthrown, the prophet declares: "Thus saith Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring down all of them as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing" (Isaiah 43:14). In this case, however, the ships are not war ships, but more probably merchant ships, or ships for pleasure, sailing in the Euphrates.

(3) Phoenicia.

It was from the Phoenicians that the Mediterranean peoples learned seamanship and skill in navigation. It is fitting, therefore, that in his dirge over the downfall of the mistress of the sea, Ezekiel should represent Tyre as a gallant ship, well built, well furnished, and well manned, broken by the seas in the depths of the waters, fallen into the heart of the seas in the day of her ruin. Ezekiel's description (chapter 27, with Davidson's notes) brings together more of the features of the ship of antiquity than any other that has come down to us. Her builders have made her perfect in beauty with planks of fir or cypress, mast of cedar, oars of the oak of Bashan, benches or deck of ivory inlaid with boxwood, sail of fine linen with broidered work from Egypt, and an awning of blue and purple from the coastlands of Elisha (possibly Sicily). She is manned with oarsmen of Sidon and Arvad, pilots of the wise men of Tyre, calkers from Gebal to stop up the cracks and seams in her timbers, mariners and men of war from other lands who enhanced her beauty by hanging up the shield and helmet within her. She is freighted with the most varied cargo, the produce of the lands around, her customers, or as they are called, her traffickers, being Tarshish in the far West, Sheba and Arabia in the South, Haran and Asshur in the East, Javan, which is Greece, and Togarmah, which is Armenia, in the North. One or two of the particulars of this description may be commented upon.

(a) As regards rigging, the Phoenician ships of the time of Ezekiel, as seen in Assyrian representations, had one mast with one yard and carried a square sail. Egyptian ships on the Red Sea about the time of the Exodus, from reliefs of the XIXth Dynasty, had one mast and two yards, and carried also one large square sail. The masts and yards were made of fir, or of pine, and the sails of linen, but the fiber of papyrus was employed as well as flax in the manufacture of sail-cloth. The sail had also to serve "for an ensign" (lenes, Ezekiel 27:7). "The flag proper," says Davidson (ad loc.), "seems not to have been used in ancient navigation; its purpose was served by the sail, as for example at the battle of Actium the ship of Antony was distinguished by its purple sail."

(b) As regards the crew, in the two-banked Phoenician ship the rowers of the first bank work their oars over the gunwale, and those of the second through portholes lower down, so that each may have free play for his oar. The calkers were those who filled up seams or cracks in the timbers with tow and covered them over with tar or wax, after the manner of the instruction given to Noah regarding the Ark: "Thou.... shalt pitch it within and without with pitch" (Genesis 6:14).

(c) As regards cargo, it is to be noted that "the persons of men," that is, slaves, formed an article of merchandise in which Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, countries to the North, traded with Tyre.

3. General References:

Of general references to shipping and seafaring life there are comparatively few in the Old Testament. In his great series of Nature-pictures in Psalm 104, the Psalmist finds a place for the sea and ships (104:25;), and in Psalm 107 there is a picture of the storm overtaking them that go down to the sea in ships, and of the deliverance that comes to them when God "bringeth" them into their desired haven" (107:23;). In the Book of Proverbs the ideal woman who brings her food from far is like "the merchant ships" (31:14). In the same book the drunkard, because of his unnatural insensibility to danger, is likened to a man "that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast" (23:34); and among the inscrutable things of the world the writer includes "the way of a ship in the midst of the sea" (30:19). In Wisdom, human life is described "as a ship passing through the billowy water, whereof, when it is gone by, there is no trace to be found, neither pathway of its keel in the billows" (Wisd 5:10). The same book notes it as a striking example of the case of a divine and beneficent Providence that "men entrust their lives to a little piece of wood, and passing through the surge on a raft are brought safe to land" (Wisd 14:1-5). The Jews like the Egyptians and the Assyrians had a natural shrinking from the sea, and Ecclesiasticus interprets their feeling when he says: "They that sail on the sea tell of the danger thereof; and when we hear it with our ears, we marvel" (43:24).

III. Ships in the New Testament.

1. In the Gospels:

It is the fishing-boats of the Sea of Galilee which exclusively occupy attention in the Gospels. In the time of our Lord's ministry in Galilee the shores of the Sea were densely peopled, and there must have been many boats engaged in the fishing industry. Bethsaida at the northern end of the Lake and Tarichea at the southern end were great centers of the trade. The boats were probably of a size and build similar to the few employed on the Lake today, which are between 20 and 30 ft. in length and 7 ft. in breadth. The word "launch," of putting a boat or a ship into the sea, has disappeared from the Revised Version (British and American), except in Luke 8:22, where it is more appropriate to an inland lake. They were propelled by oars, but no doubt also made use of the sail when the wind was favorable (Luke 8:23), though the pictures which we have in the Gospels are mostly of the boatmen toiling in rowing in the teeth of a gale (Mark 6:48), and struggling with the threatening waves (Matthew 14:24). In the boat on which Jesus and the disciples were crossing the Lake after the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus was in the stern "asleep on the cushion" (Mark 4:38, the King James Version "a pillow"; Greek proskephalaion, "headrest"). More than once Jesus made special use of a boat. As He was by the seashore a great concourse of people from all parts made it desirable that "a small boat" (ploiarion) should be in attendance off the shore to receive Him in case of need, though He does not seem to have required it (Mark 3:9). On another occasion, when the crowds were still greater, He went into a boat and sat "in the sea" with the multitude on the sloping beach before Him (Mark 4:1 Luke 5:3). This boat is said in Luke's narrative to have been Simon's, and it seems from references to it as "the boat" on other occasions to have been generally at the disposal of Jesus.

2. In the Acts of the Apostles:

It is Paul's voyages which yield us the knowledge that we possess from Biblical sources of ships in New Testament times. They are recorded for us in the Acts by Luke, who, as Sir William Ramsay puts it, had the true Greek feeling for the sea (St. Paul the Traveler, 21). In Luke's writings there are many nautical terms, peculiar to him, used with great exactitude and precision.

When Paul had appealed to Caesar and was proceeding to Rome in charge of Julius, the centurion, along with other prisoners, a ship of Adramyttium, a coasting vessel, carried the party from Caesarea along the Syrian coast, northward of Cyprus, past Cilicia and Pamphylia, to Myra of Lycia. There the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy, one of the great corn fleet carrying grain from Egypt for the multitudes of Rome. (After the capture of Jerusalem the emperor Titus returned to Italy in such a vessel, touching at Rhegium and landing at Puteoil.) The size of the vessel is indicated by the fact that there were 276 persons on board, crew and passengers all told (Acts 27:37). Luke has made no note of the name of this or of the previous vessels in which Paul had voyaged. Of the presumably larger vessel, also an Alexandrian corn ship bound for Rome, which had wintered in Melita, and which afterward took on board the shipwrecked party (Acts 28:11), "the sign" (parasemon) is given, and she is called "The Twin Brothers." The expression shows that it was in painting or relief; a figurehead, with the Twin Brothers represented, would be given by episemon. The cargo (phortion, Acts 27:10, the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) "lading") in this case was wheat (Acts 27:38), but another word is used, gomos, by Luke of a ship's load of varied wares (Acts 21:3; compare Revelation 18:11).

Of those engaged in handling the ship we find (Acts 27:11) the master (kubernetes), the owner (naukleros, although this expression seems not quite consistent with the ownership of a grain ship of the imperial service, and Ramsay's distinction between the words, making the former "sailing-master" and the latter "captain," may be better), the sailors (Acts 27:30, who treacherously sought to lower the ship's boat on the pretense of laying out anchors from the "foreship" or prow, and to get away from the doomed vessel).

Of operations belonging to the navigation of the vessel in the storm there were

(1) the taking on board of the ship's boat and securing it with ropes (Acts 27:16, in which operation Luke seems to have taken part; compare Acts 27:32),

(2) the undergirding of the ship (Acts 27:17, using helps, that is taking measures of relief and adopting the expedient, only resorted to in extremities, of passing cables under the keel of the ship to keep the hull together and to preserve the timbers from starting),

(3) the lowering of the gear (Acts 27:17, reducing sail, taking down the mainsail and the main yard),

(4) throwing freight overboard and later casting out the tackling of the ship (Acts 27:19),

(5) taking soundings (Acts 27:28),

(6) letting go four anchors from the stern (Acts 27:29, stern-anchoring being very unusual, but a necessity in the circumstances),

(7) further lightening the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea (Acts 27:38),

(8) cutting the anchor cables, unlashing the rudders, hoisting up the foresail to the wind, and holding straight for the beach (Acts 27:40).

Of the parts of the ship's equipment there are mentioned "the sounding lead" (bolis, though it is the verb which is here used), "the anchors" (agkurai, of which every ship carried several, and which at successive periods have been made of stone, iron, lead and perhaps other metals, each having two flukes and being held by a cable or a chain), "the rudders" (pedalia, of which every ship had two for steering, which in this case had been lifted out of the water and secured by "bands" to the side of the ship and unlashed when the critical moment came), "the foresail" artemon, not the mainsail, but the small sail at the bow of the vessel which at the right moment was hoisted to the wind to run her ashore), and "the boat" (skaphe, which had been in tow in the wake of the vessel, according to custom still prevalent in those seas-coasting-vessels being sometimes becalmed, when the crew get into the small boat and take the ship in tow, using the oars to get her round a promontory or into a position more favorable for the wind). The season for navigation in those seas in ancient times was from April to October. During the winter the vessels were laid up, or remained in the shelter of some suitable haven. The reason for this was not simply the tempestuous character of the weather, but the obscuration of the heavens which prevented observations being taken for the steering of the ship (Acts 27:20).

3. In Other Books:

In 2 Corinthians 11:25 Paul mentions among sufferings he had endured for Christ's sake that thrice he had suffered shipwreck, and that he had been "a night and a day in the deep," implying that he had been in danger of his life clinging to a spar, or borne upon a hurriedly constructed raft. It may be a reminiscence of the sea when Paul in the very earliest of his Epistles (1 Thessalonians 4:16), speaking of the coming of the Lord, says "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout" en keleusmati), where the picture is that of the keleustes, giving the time to the rowers on board a ship. Although huperetes, was "an underrower" and huperesia, "the crew of a ship" as contrasted with kubernetes, "the sailing-master," the derived meaning of "servant" or "officer" has lost in the New Testament all trace of its origin (Matthew 5:25 Luke 1:2 and many passages; compare stellein, and sustellein, where the idea of "furling" or "shifting a sail" is entirely lost: 1 Corinthians 7:29 2 Corinthians 8:20).

Figurative:

In Hebrews the hope of the gospel is figured as "an anchor.... sure and stedfast, and entering into that which is within the veil" (6:19, especially with Ebrard's note in Alford, at the place). James, showing the power of little things, adduces the ships, large though they be, and driven by fierce winds, turned about by a very small "rudder" (pedalion), as "the impulse of the steersman willeth" (James 3:4). In Revelation there is a representation of the fall of Babylon in language reminiscent of the fall of Tyre (Ezekiel 27), in which lamentations arise from the merchants of the earth who can no more buy her varied merchandise (ton gomon, "cargo" the Revised Version margin), and shipmasters and passengers and seafaring people look in terror and grief upon the smoke of her burning (Revelation 18:12-18).

LITERATURE.

The usual books on Greek and Roman antiquities furnish descriptions and illustrations. Works on the monuments like Layard, Nineveh, II, 379;; Maspero, Ancient Egypt and Assyria; Ball, Light from the East, and Reissner, Cairo Museum Catalogue, "Models of Ships and Boats," 1913, contain descriptions and figured representations which are instructive. On shipping and navigation in classical antiquity Smith of Jordanhill, Voyage and Shipwreck of Paul, is still the standard authority.

T. Nicol

TARSHISH, NAVY (SHIPS) OF

See SHIPS AND BOATS, II, 1, (2).

Greek

4632. skeuos -- a vessel, implement, pl. goods
... tackle Definition: a vessel to contain liquid; a vessel of mercy or wrath; any
instrument by which anything is done; a household utensil; of ships: tackle. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/4632.htm - 6k

4143. ploion -- a boat
... boat. Word Origin from pleo Definition a boat NASB Word Usage boat (40),
boats (4), ship (18), ship's (1), ships (3). a boat. From ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/4143.htm - 6k

Strong's Hebrew

590. oni -- ships, a fleet
... 589, 590. oni. 591 . ships, a fleet. Transliteration: oni Phonetic Spelling:
(on-ee') Short Definition: ships. Word Origin from ...
/hebrew/590.htm - 6k

591. oniyyah -- a ship
... 590, 591. oniyyah. 592 . a ship. Transliteration: oniyyah Phonetic Spelling:
(on-ee-yaw') Short Definition: ships. Word Origin from ...
/hebrew/591.htm - 6k

6716a. tsi -- a ship
... a ship. Transliteration: tsi Short Definition: ships. Word Origin of foreign origin
Definition a ship NASB Word Usage ship (1), ships (3). 6716, 6716a. ...
/hebrew/6716a.htm - 5k

Library

"They that Go Down to the Sea in Ships. " 1 Lord of the Wide ...
... SEAMEN'S HYMNS. 825. " "They that go down to the sea in ships." 1 Lord of the wide
extended main! ... 825. LM C. Wesley. "They that go down to the sea in ships.". ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/adams/hymns for christian devotion/825 they that go.htm

The Way the Sail is Set.
... I stood beside the open sea; The ships went sailing by; The wind blew softly o'er
the lea; The sun had cloudless sky. ... How can ships sail this way and that? ...
//christianbookshelf.org/orr/how to live a holy life/the way the sail is.htm

But Now, when the People of Tiberias Perceived that There were no ...
... But now, when the people of Tiberias perceived that there were no forces come from
the king, and yet saw the whole lake full of ships, they were in fear what ...
/.../josephus/the life of flavius josephus/section 33 but now when.htm

The Saviour's Last Command.
... brother from sister and sister from brother"to crowd them together without distinction
of age or sex in the suffocating holds of their ships, where a large ...
/.../dibble/thoughts on missions/chapter iv the saviours last.htm

How Joppa was Taken, and Tiberias Delivered Up.
... They also built themselves a great many piratical ships, and turned pirates upon
the seas near to Syria, and Phoenicia, and Egypt, and made those seas ...
/.../chapter 9 how joppa was.htm

Expedition of Julian into Persia; He was Worsted and Broke
... As he was prevented from reaching the city with his ships, by a part of the land
which separated it from the river, he judged that either he must pursue his ...
/.../the ecclesiastical history of sozomenus/chapter i expedition of julian into.htm

Psalm XLVIII.
... 6. "With a strong wind Thou shalt break the ships of Tarshish" (ver.6). Briefly
understood, this is, Thou shalt overthrow the pride of the nations. ...
/.../augustine/exposition on the book of psalms/psalm xlviii.htm

Ezekiel's Discourse
... The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the
ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise. ...
/.../various/select masterpieces of biblical literature/vii ezekiels discourse.htm

The Seven Seas According to the Talmudists, and the Four Rivers ...
... That, indeed, is somewhat hard, yet not to be doubted of, what is said, 2 Chronicles
8:18, concerning Hiram sending ships to Solomon into the Red sea. What! ...
/.../lightfoot/from the talmud and hebraica/chapter 4 the seven seas.htm

Incredible Turpitudes in God Imagined by Manichæus.
... for so they call a certain writing of Manichæus, in which these blasphemies stand
written): "Then the blessed Father, who has bright ships, little apartments ...
/.../chapter 44 name turpitudes in.htm

Subtopics

Ships of Industrious Women

Ships of Tarshish

Ships of Tyre

Ships were often Wrecked

Ships: (Wrecked) Departure from the Faith