Acts 27

¹And when it was decided that we should sail for Italy , they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan Cohort named Julius .

²And embarking in a ship of Adramyttium , which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of Asia , we put to sea , accompanied by Aristarchus , a Macedonian from Thessalonica .

³The next day we put in at Sidon . And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him leave to go to his friends and be cared for .

⁴And putting out to sea from there we sailed under the lee of Cyprus , because the winds were against us .

⁵And when we had sailed across the open sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia , we came to Myra in Lycia .

⁶There the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy and put us on board .

⁷We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus , and as the wind did not allow us to go farther, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone .

⁸Coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens , near which was the city of Lasea .

⁹Since much time had passed , and the voyage was now dangerous because even the Fast was already over , Paul advised them ,

¹⁰saying , Sirs , I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss , not only of the cargo and the ship , but also of our lives .

¹¹But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said .

¹²And because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in , the majority decided to put out to sea from there , on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix , a harbor of Crete , facing both southwest and northwest , and spend the winter there.

¹³Now when the south wind blew gently , supposing that they had obtained their purpose , they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete , close to the shore.

¹⁴But soon a tempestuous wind , called the northeaster , struck down from the land .

¹⁵And when the ship was caught and could not face the wind , we gave way to it and were driven along .

¹⁶Running under the lee of a small island called Cauda , we managed with difficulty to secure the ship’s boat .

¹⁷After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship . Then , fearing that they would run aground on the Syrtis , they lowered the gear , and thus they were driven along.

¹⁸Since we were violently storm-tossed , they began the next day to jettison the cargo .

¹⁹And on the third day they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands .

²⁰When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days , and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned .

²¹Since they had been without food for a long time , Paul stood up among them and said , Men , you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss .

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

²³For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship ,

²⁴and he said , Do not be afraid , Paul ; you must stand before Caesar . And behold , God has granted you all those who sail with you.

²⁵So take heart , men , for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told .

²⁶But we must run aground on some island .

²⁷When the fourteenth night had come , as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea , about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land .

²⁸So they took a sounding and found twenty fathoms . A little farther on they took a sounding again and found fifteen fathoms .

²⁹And fearing that we run on the rocks , they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come.

³⁰And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship , and had lowered the ship’s boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow ,

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

³²Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it go .

³³As day was about to dawn , Paul urged them all to take some food , saying , Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food , having taken nothing .

³⁴Therefore I urge you to take some food . For it will give you strength , for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you .

³⁵And when he had said these things , he took bread , and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat .

³⁶Then they all were encouraged and ate some food themselves .

³⁷( We were in all 276 persons in the ship .)

³⁸And when they had eaten enough , they lightened the ship , throwing out the wheat into the sea .

³⁹Now when it was day , they did not recognize the land , but they noticed a bay with a beach , on which they planned if possible to run the ship ashore.

⁴⁰So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea , at the same time loosening the ropes that tied the rudders . Then hoisting the foresail to the wind they made for the beach .

⁴¹But striking a reef , they ran the vessel aground . The bow stuck and remained immovable , and the stern was being broken up by the surf .

⁴²The soldiers ’ plan was to kill the prisoners , lest any should swim away and escape .

⁴³But the centurion , wishing to save Paul , kept them from carrying out their plan . He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land ,

⁴⁴and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship . And so it was that all were brought safely to land .