Acts 27:21–44

²¹And ¹when they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up in their midst and said, “^aMen, you ought to have ²followed my advice to not set sail from ^bCrete and to ³avoid this ^cdamage and loss.

²²“And now I advise you to ^abe cheerful, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.

²³“For this very night ^aan angel of the God to whom I belong and ^bwhom I serve ^cstood before me,

²⁴saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; ^ayou must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you ^ball those who are sailing with you.’

²⁵“Therefore, ^abe cheerful, men, for I believe God that ¹it will turn out exactly as I have been told.

²⁶“But we must ^arun aground on some ^bisland.”

²⁷But when the fourteenth night came, as we were being carried about in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors began to suspect that some land was approaching them.

²⁸And when they took soundings, they found it to be ¹twenty fathoms; and a little farther on they took another sounding and found it to be ²fifteen fathoms.

²⁹And fearing that we might ^arun aground somewhere on the ¹rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and were praying for daybreak.

³⁰But as the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and had let down ^athe ship’s boat into the sea, on the pretense of intending to lay out anchors from the bow,

³¹Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, “Unless these men remain in the ship, you yourselves cannot ¹be saved.”

³²Then the soldiers cut away the ^aropes of the ship’s boat and let it fall away.

³³Until the day was about to dawn, Paul was encouraging them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been constantly watching and going without eating, having taken nothing.

³⁴“Therefore I encourage you to take some food, for this is for your ¹salvation, for ^anot a hair from the head of any of you will perish.”

³⁵And having said these things, he took bread and ^agave thanks to God in the presence of all. And he broke it and began to eat.

³⁶And all ^aof them became cheerful and they themselves also took food.

³⁷And all of us in the ship were 276 ^1apersons.

³⁸And when they had eaten enough, they began to lighten the ship by ^athrowing out the wheat into the sea.

The Shipwreck

³⁹Now when day came, ^athey ¹could not recognize the land; but they were noticing a bay with a beach, and they were resolving to drive the ship onto it if they could.

⁴⁰And casting off ^athe anchors, they left them in the sea while at the same time they were loosening the ropes of the rudders. And hoisting the foresail to the wind, they were heading for the beach.

⁴¹But striking a ¹reef where two seas met, they ran the vessel aground; and the bow stuck fast and remained immovable, but the stern began to be broken up by the force of the waves.

⁴²Now the soldiers’ plan was to ^akill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim away and escape;

⁴³but the centurion, ^awanting to bring Paul safely through, kept them from their intention, and ordered that those who could swim should ¹jump overboard first and get to land,

⁴⁴and the rest should follow, some on planks, and others on various things from the ship. And so it happened that ^athey all were brought safely to land.