1When it was decided that we should sail to Italy, they handed Paul and some other prisoners over to a man named Julius, a centurion of the Augustus band.
2We boarded a ship from Adramyttium that was about to sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, and we set out. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us.
3The next day we landed at Sidon. Julius treated Paul kindly, and let him go to his friends so they could care for him.
4When we had set out from there, we sailed under the shelter of Cyprus, because the winds were against us.
5We sailed across the sea off Cilicia and Pamphylia, and came to Myra, a city of Lycia.
6There the centurion found a ship from Alexandria that was sailing to Italy, and he put us on board.
7We sailed slowly for many days, and only just came opposite Cnidus. The wind would not let us go on, so we sailed under the shelter of Crete, opposite Salmone.
8We passed along the coast with difficulty, and came to a place called The Fair Havens. The city of Lasea was near it.
9Much time had now been lost, and sailing had become dangerous, because the Fast was already over. So Paul warned them.
10He said to them, "Sirs, I can see that this voyage will bring harm and much damage, not only to the cargo and the ship, but also to our lives."
11But the centurion believed the captain and the owner of the ship more than what Paul said.
12The harbour was not a good place to spend the winter, so most of them advised that they should leave from there too. They hoped that somehow they could reach Phenice and spend the winter there. It is a harbour of Crete, and it faces south west and north west.
13When a soft south wind blew, they thought they had what they wanted. So they pulled up the anchor and sailed close along the coast of Crete.
14But not long afterward a violent wind, called Euroclydon, rushed down from the island.
15The ship was caught by it and could not head into the wind, so we gave way and let it drive us along.
16We ran under the shelter of a small island called Clauda, and we were hardly able to secure the ship's boat.
17When they had hauled it up, they used ropes to bind the ship underneath. They were afraid of running onto the quicksands, so they lowered the sail, and were driven along.
18We were tossed about so violently by the storm that the next day they threw the cargo overboard.
19On the third day we threw out the ship's tackle with our own hands.
20For many days neither sun nor stars appeared, and the great storm kept beating on us. At last we gave up all hope of being saved.
21They had gone a long time without food. Then Paul stood up among them and said, "Sirs, you should have listened to me and not sailed from Crete. Then you would have avoided this harm and loss."
22"And now I urge you to take heart. No one among you will lose his life; only the ship will be lost."
23"For last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me."
24"He said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar. And look, God has given you all those who are sailing with you.'"
25"So take heart, sirs. I believe God, that it will be just as I was told."
26"But we must be cast up on a certain island."
27When the fourteenth night came, we were being driven back and forth in the Adria. About midnight the sailors thought that they were getting near some land.
28They measured the depth and found it was twenty fathoms. When they had gone a little further, they measured again and found it was fifteen fathoms.
29They were afraid we might be thrown onto the rocks, so they let down four anchors from the back of the ship, and prayed for daylight.
30The sailors were trying to escape from the ship. They had let the boat down into the sea, pretending that they were going to put out anchors from the front of the ship.
31Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, "Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved."
32Then the soldiers cut the ropes of the boat and let it fall away.
33While the day was coming on, Paul urged them all to eat. He said, "Today is the fourteenth day that you have waited and gone on fasting, having eaten nothing."
34"So I beg you to take some food, for it will keep you alive. Not a hair will fall from the head of any of you."
35When he had said this, he took bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat.
36Then they all took heart, and they too ate some food.
37There were two hundred and seventy-six of us on the ship in all.
38When they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea.
39When it was day, they did not recognise the land. But they saw a bay with a beach, and they planned to run the ship into it if they could.
40So they cut away the anchors and left them in the sea. At the same time they untied the ropes that held the rudders, hoisted the mainsail to the wind, and headed for the beach.
41But they came to a place where two seas met, and they ran the ship aground. The front of the ship stuck fast and would not move, but the back was broken up by the force of the waves.
42The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners, in case any of them should swim away and escape.
43But the centurion wanted to save Paul, so he stopped them from doing it. He ordered those who could swim to jump into the sea first and get to land,
44and the rest to follow, some on boards and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so they all came safely to land.