Acts 27 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Once it was decided that we would sail for Italy, they handed Paul and some other prisoners over to a named Julius, who belonged to the
We boarded a ship from that was about to sail along the coast of the of and we set out. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, came with us.
The next day we docked at and Julius treated Paul kindly, letting him go visit his and be taken care of.
From there we put out to sea and sailed the of because the winds were against us.
After sailing across the open sea off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we arrived at in Lycia.
There the centurion found an heading for Italy and put us on board.
We made slow progress for many days and had difficulty arriving off When the wind wouldn't let us hold our course, we sailed under the lee of Crete, passing Cape Salmone.
We struggled along the coast and eventually came to a place called near the town of Lasea.
A lot of time had been lost, and sailing was already dangerous because it was past the of So Paul warned them,
"Men, I can see that this voyage is going to end in disaster and serious loss -- not just of the cargo and the ship, but of our own lives too."
But the centurion trusted the ship's and the more than what Paul said.
Since the harbor wasn't a good place to spend the winter, the majority decided to sail on, hoping to somehow reach a harbor in Crete that faces both southwest and northwest, where they could winter.
When a gentle south wind began to blow, they thought they had their chance. So they pulled up anchor and sailed along the coast of Crete, keeping close to shore.
But before long, a hurricane-force wind called the tore across the island.
The ship was caught in the storm and the so we gave up and let it drive us along.
Running under the lee of a small island called Cauda, we barely managed to secure the
After hoisting it aboard, they used ropes to the Afraid of being driven onto the of they lowered the and let the drift.
We were getting battered so badly by the storm that the next day they started throwing cargo overboard.
On the third day, they threw the overboard with their own hands.
When nor for many days and the storm kept raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.
After the men had gone a long time without eating, Paul stood up among them and said, "Men, you should have listened to me and not sailed from Crete. Then you would have avoided this damage and loss.
But now I'm urging you to keep up your courage, because not a single one of you will die -- only the ship will be lost.
Last night an of the God I belong to and serve stood beside me
and said, 'Don't be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before And look -- God has you the lives of everyone sailing with you.'
So keep your courage up, men! I trust God that it will turn out exactly as he told me.
But we will have to run aground on some island."
On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Around midnight, the sailors sensed they were approaching land.
They took soundings and found the water was deep. A little farther on they took soundings again and found it was 90 deep.
Afraid that we would be smashed against the rocks, they dropped from the and prayed for daylight.
The sailors tried to escape from the ship by lowering the lifeboat into the sea, pretending they were going to drop anchors from the bow.
But Paul told the centurion and the soldiers, "Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved."
So the soldiers cut the ropes holding the lifeboat and let it fall away.
Just before dawn, Paul urged them all to eat. "For fourteen days now you've been in constant suspense and have gone without food -- you haven't eaten a thing.
So I'm begging you to eat something. You need it to survive. Not one of you will even a from your head."
After he said this, he took some bread, to in front of everyone, broke it, and began to eat.
This raised everyone's spirits, and they all ate something themselves.
There were 276 of us on board altogether.
After they had eaten their fill, they lightened the ship by throwing the into the sea.
When daylight came, they didn't recognize the land, but they spotted a bay with a sandy beach where they planned to run the ship aground if they could.
They cut loose the anchors and left them in the sea. At the same time, they untied the ropes holding the raised the to the wind, and headed for the beach.
But the ship hit a and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and wouldn't move, and the stern was being smashed to pieces by the pounding waves.
The soldiers planned to the to keep any of them from swimming away and escaping.
But the centurion wanted to save Paul, so he stopped them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for land.
The rest grabbed planks or other pieces of the ship. And that's how it happened -- it to