Tackling

"Tackling" in Scripture denotes the ropes, rigging, and shipboard equipment. Isaiah employs the image of a storm-battered vessel whose tackling is loose as a metaphor for the helplessness of the nations before God: "Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail" (Isa. 33:23 KJV). The contrast is with Zion, which shall be a place of "quiet resting," whose stakes will never be removed. In Acts 27:19, the sailors on the storm-tossed ship carrying Paul cast the tackling overboard to lighten the vessel during the shipwreck voyage to Malta.