Acts 27:16-44

¹⁶We sailed along the lee of a small island called Cauda, and with difficulty we were able to secure the lifeboat.

¹⁷When they had hoisted the lifeboat up, they used its ropes to bind the hull of the ship. They were afraid that they should run upon the sandbars of Syrtis, so they lowered the sea anchor and were driven along.

¹⁸We took such a violent battering by the storm that the next day they began throwing the cargo overboard.

¹⁹On the third day the sailors threw overboard the ship's equipment with their own hands.

²⁰When the sun and stars did not shine on us for many days, and the great storm still beat upon us, any more hope that we should be saved was abandoned.

²¹When they had gone long without food, then Paul stood up among the sailors and said, “Men, you should have listened to me, and not have set sail from Crete, so as to get this injury and loss.

²²Now I urge you to take courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only the loss of the ship.

²³For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong, whom also I worship—his angel stood beside me

²⁴and said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar, and see, God in his kindness has given to you all those who are sailing with you.'

²⁵Therefore be cheerful, men! For I trust God that it will happen just as it was told to me.

²⁶But we must run aground upon some island.”

²⁷When the fourteenth night had come, as we were driven this way and that in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors thought that they were approaching some land.

²⁸They took soundings and found twenty fathoms; after a little while, they took more soundings and found fifteen fathoms.

²⁹They were afraid that we might crash on the rocks, so they lowered four anchors from the stern and prayed that morning would come soon.

³⁰The sailors were looking for a way to abandon the ship and had lowered the lifeboat into the sea, and pretended that they would throw down the anchors from the bow.

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

³²Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the boat and let it drift away.

³³When daylight was coming on, Paul urged them all to take some food. He said, “This day is the fourteenth day that you wait and do not eat; you have eaten nothing.

³⁴So I urge you to share some food, for this is necessary for you to survive. For not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.”

³⁵When he had said this, he took bread and he thanked God in the sight of everyone. Then he broke the bread and began to eat.

³⁶Then they were all encouraged and they also took food.

³⁷We were 276 people in the ship.

³⁸When they had eaten enough, they made the ship lighter by throwing out the wheat into the sea.

³⁹When it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a bay with a beach, and they discussed whether they could drive the ship onto it.

⁴⁰So they cut loose the anchors and left them in the sea. At the same time they loosed the ropes of the rudders and raised the foresail to the wind; and so they headed to the beach.

⁴¹But they came to a place where two currents met, and the ship ran into the ground. The bow of the ship stuck there and remained unmovable, but the stern began to break up because of the waves' violence.

⁴²The soldiers' plan was to kill the prisoners so that none of them could swim away and escape.

⁴³But the centurion wanted to save Paul, so he stopped their plan; and he ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land.

⁴⁴Then the rest of the men should follow, some on planks, and some on other things from the ship. In this way it happened that all of us came safely to land.