Acts 27

¹ When it was decided that we should sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius, of the Imperial Regiment.

² We boarded a ship from Adramyttium about to sail to ports along the coast of Asia, and we put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us.

³ The next day we landed at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul kindly, letting him go to his friends so they could provide for his needs.

⁴ From there we put out to sea again and sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us.

⁵ When we had sailed across the open sea off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we landed at Myra in Lycia.

⁶ There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship bound for Italy and put us aboard.

⁷ For many days we made slow headway and barely reached Cnidus. The wind would not let us go on, so we sailed under the lee of Crete, off Salmone.

⁸ Coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea.

⁹ By now much time had been lost, and sailing had become dangerous because even the Fast was already over. So Paul warned them,

¹⁰ "Men, I can see that this voyage is going to bring disaster and heavy loss—not only to the cargo and the ship, but to our own lives as well."

¹¹ But the centurion was more persuaded by the pilot and the ship's owner than by what Paul said.

¹² Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided to sail on, hoping somehow to reach Phoenix, a harbor in Crete facing southwest and northwest, and to winter there.

¹³ When a gentle south wind began to blow, they thought they had what they wanted, so they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete, close in.

¹⁴ But before long a hurricane-force wind, called the Northeaster, swept down from the island.

¹⁵ The ship was caught and could not head into the wind, so we gave way to it and were driven along.

¹⁶ As we passed under the lee of a small island called Cauda, we managed with difficulty to get the ship's boat under control.

¹⁷ After hoisting it aboard, the crew used ropes to brace the hull. Afraid of running aground on the Syrtis sandbars, they lowered the sea anchor and let the ship be driven along.

¹⁸ We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard.

¹⁹ On the third day, with their own hands, they threw the ship's tackle overboard.

²⁰ When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm kept raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.

²¹ After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up among them and said, "Men, you should have listened to me and not sailed from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this disaster and loss.

²² But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed.

²³ Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me

²⁴ and said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and look, God has graciously given you the lives of all who are sailing with you.'

²⁵ So keep up your courage, men, for I trust God that it will happen just as he told me.

²⁶ Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island."

²⁷ On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea when, about midnight, the sailors sensed they were approaching land.

²⁸ They took soundings and found the water was a hundred and twenty feet deep. A little farther on they sounded again and found it ninety feet deep.

²⁹ Afraid we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight.

³⁰ In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower anchors from the bow.

³¹ Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, "Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved."

³² So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it fall away.

³³ Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. "For fourteen days now," he said, "you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven't eaten a thing.

³⁴ Now I urge you to eat something. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head."

³⁵ After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat.

³⁶ They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves.

³⁷ Altogether there were two hundred and seventy-six of us on board.

³⁸ When they had eaten all they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.

³⁹ When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could.

⁴⁰ Cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea; at the same time they untied the ropes that held the steering oars. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach.

⁴¹ But the ship struck a sandbar between two currents and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, while the stern was being broken to pieces by the pounding surf.

⁴² The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to keep any of them from swimming away and escaping.

⁴³ But the centurion wanted to spare Paul's life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land,

⁴⁴ and the rest to follow on planks or on pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely.