Acts 27:27-43

²⁷At around midnight on the fourteenth night of the storm, still being blown over the Sea of Adria, the crew suspected they were getting close to land.

²⁸They checked the depth and found it was forty meters, and a little while later they checked again and it was thirty meters.

²⁹They were concerned that we might be wrecked on rocks, so they dropped four anchors from the stern, and prayed for daylight to come.

³⁰The crew tried to leave the ship, and had lowered the ship's boat into the water with the pretext that they were going to drop anchors from the ship's bow.

³¹But Paul told the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless the crew stays with the ship, you will be lost.”

³²So the soldiers cut the ropes holding the ship's boat, and let it loose.

³³At daybreak Paul urged all of them to eat something. “It's been fourteen days now that you haven't eaten anything because you've been so worried and preoccupied,” he told them.

³⁴“Please do what I say and eat some food. This will help give you strength. For not even a hair from anyone's head is going to be lost!”

³⁵When he'd finished speaking he picked up a loaf of bread, and gave thanks to God for it in front of everyone. Then he broke the bread, and began to eat.

³⁶Everyone was encouraged and they ate too.

³⁷The total number of people on board was two hundred and seventy-six.

³⁸Once they'd had enough to eat, the crew made the ship lighter by throwing the supplies of wheat overboard.

³⁹When dawn came they didn't recognize the coastline, but they saw a bay that had a beach. They planned to try running the ship aground there.

⁴⁰So they cut the anchor ropes, leaving the anchors in the sea. At the same time they untied the ropes holding the rudders, raised the foresail to the wind, and made for the beach.

⁴¹But they struck a sandbar and the ship grounded. The bow hit, and stuck so firm it couldn't be moved, while the stern began to be broken apart by the pounding surf.

⁴²The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners so none of them could swim away and escape.

⁴³But the centurion, because he wanted to save Paul's life, prevented them from doing this, and ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for land.