Chapter 27

1When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a Roman army officer named Julius, who belonged to the Imperial Regiment.

2We boarded a ship from Adramyttium that was about to sail to ports along the coast of the Roman province of Asia, and we put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us.

3The next day we landed at Sidon. Julius treated Paul kindly and allowed him to visit his friends so they could care for his needs.

4From there we put out to sea again. Because the winds were against us, we sailed along the sheltered side of Cyprus.

5We crossed the open sea off Cilicia and Pamphylia and arrived at Myra in Lycia.

6There the Roman officer found a ship from Alexandria sailing for Italy, and he put us aboard it.

7For many days we sailed slowly, and with difficulty we reached a point near Cnidus. Since the wind would not let us continue on our intended course, we sailed along the sheltered side of Crete, near Salmone.

8We struggled along the coast and reached a place called Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea.

9Much time had passed, and sailing had become dangerous because the annual Jewish fast had already gone by. So Paul warned them.

10Paul said, “Men, I can see that this voyage will bring disaster and great loss—not only to the cargo and the ship, but also to our lives.”

11But the Roman officer trusted the ship’s captain and owner more than he trusted what Paul said.

12Since the harbor was unsuitable for spending the winter, most of them decided to sail on. They hoped they could reach Phoenix, a harbor in Crete that faced southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.

13When a gentle south wind began to blow, they thought they had the conditions they wanted. They pulled up the anchor and sailed closely along the coast of Crete.

14Before long, however, a hurricane-force wind known as the Eurakylon swept down from the island.

15The wind seized the ship, and we could not steer into it. So we gave way and let ourselves be driven along.

16As we passed along the sheltered side of a small island called Cauda, we barely managed to bring the lifeboat under control.

17The sailors hauled it aboard and used cables to bind the ship together from underneath. They were afraid they would be driven onto the Syrtis sandbanks off North Africa, so they lowered the ship’s gear to slow its drift and let the wind carry them.

18The storm battered us so violently that the next day they began throwing the cargo overboard.

19On the third day, they threw the ship’s equipment overboard with their own hands.

20For many days neither the sun nor the stars appeared, and the violent storm kept pounding us. At last, every hope that we would survive was taken away.

21After everyone had gone a long time without food, Paul stood among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not sailed from Crete. Then you would have avoided this disaster and loss.

22Paul continued, “But now I urge you to keep up your courage. None of you will lose your life; only the ship will be lost.

23“Last night an angel from the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me.

24“The angel said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must appear before Caesar, the Roman emperor. And God has graciously granted that everyone sailing with you will be spared.’

25Paul continued, “So keep up your courage, men. I trust God that everything will happen just as I was told.

26“But we must run aground on some island.”

27On the fourteenth night, as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, the sailors sensed around midnight that they were getting close to land.

28They measured the water’s depth and found it was about 120 feet deep. A little farther on, they measured again and found it was about 90 feet deep.

29Afraid that we might crash against rocks, they dropped four anchors from the back of the ship and desperately wished for daylight.

30The sailors tried to escape from the ship. They lowered the lifeboat into the sea, pretending that they were going to put out anchors from the front of the ship.

31But Paul told the Roman officer and the soldiers, “Unless these sailors stay on the ship, you cannot be saved.”

32Then the soldiers cut the ropes holding the lifeboat and let it drift away.

33As dawn approached, Paul urged everyone to eat. He said, “Today is the fourteenth day you have spent waiting and going without food. You have eaten nothing.

34“So I urge you to eat something, because you need it to survive. Not even a hair on any of your heads will be lost.”

35After saying this, Paul took some bread and thanked God in front of everyone. Then he broke it and began to eat.

36They all became more hopeful and began eating too.

37Altogether, there were 276 people on the ship.

38When everyone had eaten enough, they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea.

39When daylight came, the sailors did not recognize the land. But they saw a bay with a beach and decided to try to run the ship onto it.

40They cut the anchors loose and left them in the sea. At the same time, they untied the ropes holding the steering oars. Then they raised the front sail to the wind and headed toward the beach.

41But they struck a shallow place where two currents met and ran the ship aground. The front became firmly stuck and would not move, while the back began breaking apart under the force of the water.

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

43But the Roman officer wanted to save Paul, so he stopped them from carrying out their plan. He ordered everyone who could swim to jump overboard first and make for land.

44The rest were to follow, some on wooden planks and others on pieces of the ship. In this way, everyone reached land safely.