Acts 27:16-44

¹⁶and having run under a certain little isle, called Clauda, we were hardly able to become masters of the boat,

¹⁷which having taken up, they were using helps, undergirding the ship, and fearing lest they may fall on the quicksand, having let down the mast — so were borne on.

¹⁸And we, being exceedingly tempest-tossed, the succeeding day they were making a clearing,

¹⁹and on the third day with our own hands the tackling of the ship we cast out,

²⁰and neither sun nor stars appearing for more days, and not a little tempest lying upon us, thenceforth all hope was taken away of our being saved.

²¹And there having been long fasting, then Paul having stood in the midst of them, said, 'It behoved you, indeed, O men — having hearkened to me — not to set sail from Crete, and to save this hurt and damage;

²²and now I exhort you to be of good cheer, for there shall be no loss of life among you — but of the ship;

²³for there stood by me this night a messenger of God — whose I am, and whom I serve —

²⁴saying, Be not afraid Paul; before Caesar it behoveth thee to stand; and, lo, God hath granted to thee all those sailing with thee;

²⁵wherefore be of good cheer, men! for I believe God, that so it shall be, even as it hath been spoken to me,

²⁶and on a certain island it behoveth us to be cast.'

²⁷And when the fourteenth night came — we being borne up and down in the Adria — toward the middle of the night the sailors were supposing that some country drew nigh to them;

²⁸and having sounded they found twenty fathoms, and having gone a little farther, and again having sounded, they found fifteen fathoms,

²⁹and fearing lest on rough places we may fall, out of the stern having cast four anchors, they were wishing day to come.

³⁰And the sailors seeking to flee out of the ship, and having let down the boat to the sea, in pretence as if out of the foreship they are about to cast anchors,

³¹Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, 'If these do not remain in the ship — ye are not able to be saved;'

³²then the soldiers did cut off the ropes of the boat, and suffered it to fall off.

³³And till the day was about to be, Paul was calling upon all to partake of nourishment, saying, 'Fourteen days to-day, waiting, ye continue fasting, having taken nothing,

³⁴wherefore I call upon you to take nourishment, for this is for your safety, for of not one of you shall a hair from the head fall;'

³⁵and having said these things, and having taken bread, he gave thanks to God before all, and having broken it, he began to eat;

³⁶and all having become of good cheer, themselves also took food,

³⁷(and we were — all the souls in the ship — two hundred, seventy and six),

³⁸and having eaten sufficient nourishment, they were lightening the ship, casting forth the wheat into the sea.

³⁹And when the day came, they were not discerning the land, but a certain creek were perceiving having a beach, into which they took counsel, if possible, to thrust forward the ship,

⁴⁰and the anchors having taken up, they were committing it to the sea, at the same time — having loosed the bands of the rudders, and having hoisted up the mainsail to the wind — they were making for the shore,

⁴¹and having fallen into a place of two seas, they ran the ship aground, and the fore-part, indeed, having stuck fast, did remain immoveable, but the hinder-part was broken by the violence of the waves.

⁴²And the soldiers' counsel was that they should kill the prisoners, lest any one having swam out should escape,

⁴³but the centurion, wishing to save Paul, hindered them from the counsel, and did command those able to swim, having cast themselves out first — to get unto the land,

⁴⁴and the rest, some indeed upon boards, and some upon certain things of the ship; and thus it came to pass that all came safe unto the land.