Acts 27:17-42

¹⁷which when they had taken up, they used helps, undergirding the ship; and fearing lest they should run into the Syrtis, they lowered the sail and so were driven.

¹⁸And as we were violently tempest-tossed, the next day they began to lighten the vessel;

¹⁹and the third day we cast out with our own hands the movables of the ship.

²⁰And as neither sun nor stars had appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, thenceforward all hope that we should be saved was taken away.

²¹And after there had been much abstinence from food, Paul stood up in the midst of them and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened to me, and not have put to sea from Crete, nod thus brought upon yourselves this injury and loss.

²²And now I exhort you to be of good cheer; for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.

²³For there stood by me this night an angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve,

²⁴saying, Fear not, Paul! Thou must stand before Caesar; and lo, God hath given thee all those that sail with thee.

²⁵Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer; for I believe God, that it will be just as it hath been told me.

²⁶But we must be cast upon some island.

²⁷And when the fourteenth night had come on, as we were driven onward in the Adriatic sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were near some country;

²⁸and sounding, they found twenty fathoms; and having gone a little further and sounded again, they found fifteen fathoms;

²⁹then fearing lest we should fall upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for day.

³⁰And as the sailors were seeking means to escape from the ship, when they had lowered the boat into the sea, under the pretence that they were about to carry out anchors from the foreship,

³¹Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, If these men do not stay in the ship, ye cannot be saved.

³²Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat, and let it fall off.

³³And while the day was coming on, Paul exhorted them all to take food; saying, This is the fourteenth day that ye have waited, and continued fasting, having taken nothing.

³⁴Wherefore I exhort you to take food; for this is for your safety; for there shall not a hair be lost from the head of one of you.

³⁵And having thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all, and having broken it, he began to eat.

³⁶Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took food.

³⁷And there were of us in the ship in all two hundred and seventy-six souls.

³⁸And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, casting out the grain into the sea.

³⁹And when it was day, they did not know the land; but they observed a certain creek having a beach, into which they determined, if possible, to run the ship.

⁴⁰And cutting away the anchors, they left them in the sea, and at the same time unfastening the rudder-bands, and hoisting the foresail to the wind, they made toward the beach.

⁴¹And falling into a place having the sea on both sides, they ran the ship aground; and the prow stuck fast, and remained immovable, but the stern was breaking to pieces with the violence of the waves.

⁴²And on the part of the soldiers there was a plan to kill the prisoners, lest any one should swim out and escape.