Acts 27:1–28

Paul Sails for Rome

27When it was decided that we^o would sail for Italy,^p Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the Imperial Regiment.^{q 2}We boarded a ship from Adramyttium about to sail for ports along the coast of the province of Asia,^r and we put out to sea. Aristarchus,^s a Macedonian^t from Thessalonica,^u was with us.

³The next day we landed at Sidon;^v and Julius, in kindness to Paul,^w allowed him to go to his friends so they might provide for his needs.^{x 4}From there we put out to sea again and passed to the lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us.^{y 5}When we had sailed across the open sea off the coast of Cilicia^z and Pamphylia,^a we landed at Myra in Lycia. ⁶There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship^b sailing for Italy^c and put us on board. ⁷We made slow headway for many days and had difficulty arriving off Cnidus. When the wind did not allow us to hold our course,^d we sailed to the lee of Crete,^e opposite Salmone. ⁸We moved along the coast with difficulty and came to a place called Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea.

⁹Much time had been lost, and sailing had already become dangerous because by now it was after the Day of Atonement.^af So Paul warned them, ¹⁰“Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo, and to our own lives also.”^{g 11}But the centurion, instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and of the owner of the ship. ¹²Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided that we should sail on, hoping to reach Phoenix and winter there. This was a harbor in Crete,^h facing both southwest and northwest.

The Storm

¹³When a gentle south wind began to blow, they saw their opportunity; so they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. ¹⁴Before very long, a wind of hurricane force,ⁱ called the Northeaster, swept down from the island. ¹⁵The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along. ¹⁶As we passed to the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were hardly able to make the lifeboat^j secure, ¹⁷so the men hoisted it aboard. Then they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together. Because they were afraid they would run aground^k on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor^b and let the ship be driven along. ¹⁸We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard.^{l 19}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 the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.

²¹After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: “Men, you should have taken my advice^m not to sail from Crete;ⁿ then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. ²²But now I urge you to keep up your courage,^o because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. ²³Last night an angel^p of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve^q stood beside me^{r 24}and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar;^s and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’^{t 25}So keep up your courage,^u men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.^{v 26}Nevertheless, we must run aground^w on some island.”^x

The Shipwreck

²⁷On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic^c Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land. ²⁸They took soundings and found that the water was a hundred and twenty feet^d deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet^e deep.