Acts 27:21–44

²¹Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul then stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and thereby avoided this damage and loss.^{* 22}I urge you now to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.^{* 23}For last night there stood by me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship,^{* 24}and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before the emperor, and, indeed, God has granted safety to all those who are sailing with you.’^{* 25}So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told.^{* 26}But we will have to run aground on some island.”^*

²⁷When the fourteenth night had come, as we were drifting across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. ²⁸So they took soundings and found twenty fathoms; a little farther on they took soundings again and found fifteen fathoms. ²⁹Fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. ³⁰But when the sailors tried to escape from the ship and had lowered the boat into the sea on the pretext of putting out anchors from the bow,^{* 31}Paul 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 boat and set it adrift.

³³Just before daybreak, Paul urged all of them to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been in suspense and remaining without food, having eaten nothing. ³⁴Therefore I urge you to take some food, for it will help you survive, for none of you will lose a hair from your heads.”^{* 35}After he had said this, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all, he broke it and began to eat.^{* 36}Then all of them were encouraged and took food for themselves.^{* 37}(We were in all two hundred seventy-six^a persons in the ship.) ³⁸After they had satisfied their hunger, they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea.^*

The Shipwreck

³⁹In the morning they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach on which they planned to run the ship ashore, if they could.^{* 40}So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea. At the same time they loosened the ropes that tied the steering-oars; then hoisting the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach.^{* 41}But striking a reef,^b they ran the ship aground; the bow stuck and remained immovable, but the stern was being broken up by the force of the waves.^{* 42}The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, so that none might swim away and escape;^{* 43}but the centurion, wishing 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^{* 44}and the rest to follow, some on planks and others on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to land.^*