27
1 So when it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they handed over both Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion named Julius of the regiment of Augustus.
2 Then we boarded a ship from Adramyttium, which was about to sail to places along the coast of Asia. So we set sail. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us.
3 The next day, we landed at the city of Sidon, where Julius treated Paul kindly and allowed him to go to his friends to receive their care.
4 From there we went to sea and sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because of the winds that were against us.
5 When we had sailed across the sea past Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia.
6 There, having found a ship from Alexandria that was sailing to Italy, the centurion put us on it.
7 When we had sailed slowly for many days and had finally arrived with difficulty near Cnidus, the wind no longer allowed us to go that way, so we sailed along the sheltered side of Crete, opposite Salmone.
8 So we sailed along the coast with difficulty, until we came to a certain place called Fair Havens, which is near the city of Lasea.
9 But much time had passed, and the voyage was already dangerous because even the Jewish fast had already passed. So Paul warned them,
10 saying to them, “Men, I see that the voyage is about to be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.”
11 But the centurion paid more attention to the master and to the owner of the ship than to those things that were spoken by Paul.
12 Because the harbor was not adequate to spend the winter in, the majority of the sailors made a decision to sail from there, if somehow they might be able to reach the city of Phoenix, to spend the winter there— a harbor in Crete, facing toward the southwest and toward the northwest.
13 When a south wind began to blow gently, the sailors thought that they had what they needed. So they weighed anchor and sailed close to the shore along Crete.
14 But not long after, a wind of hurricane force, which was called the northeaster, blew down from the island.
15 When the ship was caught by the storm and could no longer head into the wind, we gave way to the storm and were driven along by the wind.
16 So we sailed along the lee of a certain island called Cauda, and with difficulty were able to gain control of the lifeboat.
17 When they had hoisted the lifeboat up, they used its ropes to bind the hull of the ship. They were afraid that they might run aground on the sandbars of Syrtis, so they lowered the sea anchor and were driven along.
18 But we were so violently battered by the storm that the next day they began throwing the cargo overboard.
19 On the third day the sailors threw overboard the equipment of the ship with their own hands.
20 When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and the great storm remained upon us, from then on all hope that we would be saved was abandoned.
21 When they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up in the midst of the sailors and said, “You men, you should indeed have listened to me, and not have set sail from Crete, and suffered this injury and loss.
22 But now I urge you to take courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only the loss of the ship.
23 For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong, whom also I worship, stood beside me
24 saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar, and see, God in his kindness has given to you all those who are sailing with you.’
25 Therefore be cheerful, men! For I trust God that thus it will be, exactly the way it was told to me.
26 But we must run aground upon some island.”
27 When the fourteenth night had come, as we were driven this way and that in the Adriatic Sea, about the middle of the night the sailors thought that they were approaching some land.
28 So they took soundings and found twenty fathoms; but when they had gone a little further and they again took soundings. they found fifteen fathoms.
29 Since they were afraid that we might crash somewhere on the rocks, they lowered four anchors from the stern and prayed for morning to come.
30 But the sailors were trying to abandon the ship and had lowered the lifeboat into the sea, pretending as if they were going to throw down the anchors from the bow.
31 But Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.”
32 Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the lifeboat and let it drift away.
33 When daylight was about to come, Paul urged them all to take some food. He said, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued waiting without eating, and have eaten nothing.
34 So I urge you to take some food, for this is for your survival. For not a single hair from your head will perish.”
35 When he had said this, and had taken bread, he thanked God before everyone. Then he broke the bread and began to eat.
36 Then they were all encouraged and they also took food.
37 We were in all 276 souls in the ship.
38 When they had eaten enough food, they made the ship lighter by throwing out the wheat into the sea.
39 When it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a certain bay with a beach, onto which they discussed whether they could drive the ship.
40 So they cut loose the anchors and left them in the sea. At the same time they loosed the ropes of the rudders and having raised the foresail to the wind, they headed to the beach.
41 But they came to a place where two currents met, and the ship ran into the ground. Then the bow of the ship indeed stuck there and remained unmovable, but the stern was being broken up by the violence of the waves.
42 Now the soldiers’ plan was that they would kill the prisoners so none of them could swim away and escape.
43 But the centurion wanted to save Paul, so he stopped their plan; and he ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land.
44 Then the rest of the men should follow, some indeed on planks, and some on other things from the ship. In this way, it happened that all of us were brought safely to the land.
The Acts of the Apostles