Acts 26–28

Paul’s Defense Before Agrippa

26So ^lAgrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense:

²“I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am going to make my defense today ^magainst all the accusations of the Jews, ³especially because you are familiar with all the ⁿcustoms and ^ocontroversies of the Jews. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

^4p“My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among ^qmy own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. ⁵They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that ^raccording to the strictest ^sparty of our ^treligion I have lived as ^ua Pharisee. ⁶And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in ^vthe promise made by God to our fathers, ^7wto which ^xour twelve tribes hope to ^yattain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope ^zI am accused by Jews, O king! ⁸Why is it thought ^aincredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

^9b“I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of ^cJesus of Nazareth. ^10dAnd I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority ^efrom the chief priests, but ^fwhen they were put to death I cast my vote against them. ¹¹And ^gI punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them ^hblaspheme, and ⁱin raging fury against them I ^jpersecuted them even to foreign cities.

Paul Tells of His Conversion

¹²“In this connection ^kI journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. ¹³At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. ¹⁴And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me ^lin the Hebrew language,¹ ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ ¹⁵And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. ¹⁶But rise and ^mstand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, ⁿto appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, ^17odelivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—^pto whom I ^qam sending you ^18rto open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from ^sthe power of Satan to God, that they may receive ^tforgiveness of sins and ^ua place among those who are sanctified ^vby faith in me.’

¹⁹“Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to ^wthe heavenly vision, ²⁰but declared first ^xto those in Damascus, ^ythen in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also ^zto the Gentiles, that they should ^arepent and ^bturn to God, performing deeds ^cin keeping with their repentance. ²¹For this reason ^dthe Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. ^22eTo this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so ^fI stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what ^gthe prophets and Moses said would come to pass: ^23hthat the Christ ⁱmust suffer and that, ^jby being the first ^kto rise from the dead, ^lhe would proclaim ^mlight both to our people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, ⁿyou are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.” ²⁵But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, ^omost excellent Festus, but I am speaking ^ptrue and ^qrational words. ²⁶For ^rthe king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner. ²⁷King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” ²⁸And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be ^sa Christian?”^{2 29}And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day ^tmight become such as I am—except for ^uthese chains.”

³⁰Then the king rose, and ^vthe governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them. ³¹And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, ^w“This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.” ³²And Agrippa said to Festus, ^x“This man could have been set ^yfree if he had not appealed ^zto Caesar.”

Paul Sails for Rome

27And when it was decided ^athat ^bwe should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan ^cCohort named Julius. ²And embarking in a ship of Adramyttium, which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, we put to sea, accompanied by ^dAristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. ³The next day we put in at Sidon. And ^eJulius ^ftreated Paul kindly and ^ggave him leave to go to his friends and be cared for. ⁴And putting out to sea from there we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us. ⁵And when we had sailed across the open sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia. ⁶There the centurion found ^ha ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy and put us on board. ⁷We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, and as the wind did not allow us to go farther, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone. ⁸Coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea.

⁹Since much time had passed, and the voyage was now dangerous because even ⁱthe Fast¹ was already over, Paul advised them, ¹⁰saying, “Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with ^jinjury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” ¹¹But the centurion paid more attention to ^kthe pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. ¹²And because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there, on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, facing both southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.

The Storm at Sea

¹³Now when the south wind blew gently, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to the shore. ¹⁴But soon a tempestuous wind, called the northeaster, ^lstruck down from the land. ¹⁵And when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along. ¹⁶Running under the lee of a small island called Cauda,² we managed with difficulty to secure the ship’s boat. ¹⁷After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship. Then, fearing that they would ^mrun aground on the Syrtis, they lowered the gear,³ and thus they were driven along. ¹⁸Since we were violently storm-tossed, they began the next day ⁿto jettison the cargo. ¹⁹And on the third day they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. ²⁰When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.

²¹Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, ^oyou should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this ^oinjury and loss. ²²Yet now I urge you to ^ptake heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. ²³For this very night ^qthere ^rstood before me ^san angel of the God ^tto whom I belong and ^uwhom I worship, ²⁴and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; ^vyou must stand before Caesar. And behold, ^wGod has granted you all those who sail with you.’ ²⁵So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. ²⁶But ^xwe must ^yrun aground on some island.”

²⁷When the fourteenth night had come, as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. ²⁸So they took a sounding and found twenty fathoms.⁴ A little farther on they took a sounding again and found fifteen fathoms.^{5 29}And fearing that we might ^zrun on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. ³⁰And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and had lowered ^athe ship’s boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, ³¹Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” ³²Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it go.

³³As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. ³⁴Therefore I urge you to take some food. For it will give you strength,⁶ for ^bnot a hair is to perish from the head of any of you.” ³⁵And when he had said these things, he took bread, and ^cgiving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat. ³⁶Then they all ^dwere encouraged and ate some food themselves. ³⁷(We were in all 276^{7 e}persons in the ship.) ³⁸And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, ^fthrowing out the wheat into the sea.

The Shipwreck

³⁹Now when it was day, ^gthey did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, on which they planned if possible to run the ship ashore. ⁴⁰So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the ropes that tied the rudders. Then hoisting the foresail to the wind they made for the beach. ⁴¹But striking a reef,^{8 h}they ran the vessel aground. The bow stuck and remained immovable, and the stern was being broken up by the surf. ⁴²ⁱThe soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any should swim away and escape. ⁴³But the centurion, ^jwishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land, ⁴⁴and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship. And so it was that ^kall were brought safely to land.

Paul on Malta

28After we were brought safely…