Acts 27:1-25

¹As it was decided that we were to sail to Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were put in charge of a captain of the Augustan Guard, named Julius.

²We went on board a ship from Adramyttium, which was on the point of sailing to the ports along the coast of Roman Asia, and put to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, went with us.

³The next day we put in to Sidon, where Julius treated Paul in a friendly manner, and allowed him to go to see his friends and receive their hospitality.

⁴Putting to sea again, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the wind was against us;

⁵and, after crossing the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we reached Myra in Lycia.

⁶There the Roman officer found an Alexandrian ship on her way to Italy, and put us on board of her.

⁷For several days our progress was slow, and it was only with difficulty that we arrived off Cnidus. As the wind was still unfavorable when we came off Cape Salmone, we sailed under the lee of Crete,

⁸and with difficulty, by keeping close in shore, we reached a place called ‘Fair Havens,’ near which was the town of Lasea.

⁹This had taken a considerable time, and sailing was already dangerous, for the Fast was already over; and so Paul gave this warning.

¹⁰“My friends,” he said, “I see that this voyage will be attended with injury and much damage, not only to the cargo and the ship, but to our own lives also.”

¹¹The Roman officer, however, was more influenced by the captain and the owner than by what was said by Paul.

¹²And, as the harbor was not a suitable one to winter in, the majority were in favor of continuing the voyage, in hope of being able to reach Phoenix, and winter there. Phoenix was a Cretan harbor, open to the north-east and south-east.

¹³So, when a light wind sprang up from the south, thinking that they had found their opportunity, they weighed anchor and kept along the coast of Crete, close in shore.

¹⁴But shortly afterward a hurricane came down on us off the land — a north-easter, as it is called.

¹⁵The ship was caught by it and was unable to keep her head to the wind, so we had to give way and let her drive before it.

¹⁶Running under the lee of a small island called Cauda, we only just managed to secure the ship's boat,

¹⁷and, after hoisting it on board, the men frapped the ship. But, afraid of being driven on to the Syrtis Sands, they lowered the yard, and then drifted.

¹⁸So violently were we tossed about by the storm, that the next day they began throwing the cargo overboard,

¹⁹and, on the following day, threw out the ship's tackle with their own hands.

²⁰As neither sun nor stars were visible for several days, and, as the gale still continued severe, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.

²¹It was then, when they had gone a long time without food, that Paul came forward, and said, “My friends, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and so incurred this injury and damage.

²²Yet, even as things are, I beg you not to lose courage, for there will not be a single life lost among you — only the ship.

²³For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong, and whom I serve, stood by me, and said —

²⁴‘Have no fear, Paul; you must appear before the Emperor, and God himself has given you the lives of all your fellow voyagers.’

²⁵Therefore, courage, my friends! For I believe God, that everything will happen exactly as I have been told.