1 WHEN it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they committed Paul and certain other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, of an imperial battalion.
2 Going on board a ship of Adramyttium which was about to sail to the places along the coast of Asia we put to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, was with us.
3 On the next day we reached Sidon, where Julius treated Paul kindly and allowed him to go to see his friends and enjoy their attentions.
4 Putting to sea from there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus because the winds were contrary.
5 After crossing the sea off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia.
6 There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship bound for Italy and put us on board of her.
7 By slow sailing for many days we with difficulty arrived off Cnidus. Then the wind being against us, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone
8 and with difficulty got past it and came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea.
9 When much time had passed and sailing was now dangerous because it was already after the Fast, Paul addressed them.
10 "Men," he said, "I see that the voyage is going to be rough and with much loss not only of the cargo and the ship but also of our lives."
11 But the Centurion listened more to the sailing master and the ship owner than to what Paul said,
12 and as the harbor was not convenient to winter in, the majority adopted the purpose of sailing away on the chance of being able to reach Phoenix and winter there. Phoenix is a harbor of Crete facing the southwest and the northwest.
13 When the south wind blew softly, thinking that they had secured their purpose, they weighed anchor and coasted along Crete.
14 But before long a hurricane, such as is called Euraquilo, swept down off the land.
15 When the ship was caught and unable to keep her head to the wind, we gave up and let her drive before it.
16 Running under the lee of an island called Cauda, we contrived with difficulty to secure the small boat.
17 When we had got it in, we used ropes to undergird the ship. Fearing that we might get stranded on the Syrtis, they lowered the sail and so drifted.
18 So violently were we battered by the storm that on the next day they lightened the ship
19 and on the third day with their own hands they threw over the ship's tackle.
20 When for many days neither sun nor stars appeared and no small tempest lay on us, at last all hope of our being saved was being taken away.
21 After they had long gone without food, Paul stood up in the midst of them and said, "Men, you ought to have listened to me and not to have sailed away from Crete and met this rough experience and loss.
22 But now I beg you to have courage, for there will be no loss of life of any of you, but only of the ship.
23 For this night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood by me
24 and said, 'Never fear, Paul! You must stand before Caesar. And now God has granted to you all the men who are sailing with you.'
25 So cheer up, men. For I trust in God that it will be as it has been told me.
26 We must, however, run on to a certain island."
27 When the fourteenth night came, as we were being driven through the Adriatic, about midnight the sailors surmised that land was getting near.
28 Sounding they found twenty fathoms, and after a little they sounded again and found fifteen fathoms.
29 Then fearing that they might run into rocky places, they cast out four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come.
30 The sailors were intent on escaping from the ship and lowered the small boat into the sea under the pretense of laying out anchors from the bow,
31 but Paul said to the Centurion and the soldiers, "Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved."
32 Then the soldiers cut the ropes of the small boat and let her fall off.
33 Until day began to dawn, Paul kept urging all to take food. He said, "To-day is the fourteenth day that you have been on the watch fasting, not taking anything.
34 Therefore, I beg you, take some food. For this is for your safety. Not a hair of the head of any one of you is going to perish."
35 Saying this he took a loaf and gave thanks to God before all and broke it and began to eat.
36 Then all cheered up and themselves took food.
37 We in the ship were in all two hundred and seventy-six souls.
38 After eating heartily, they lightened the ship, throwing over the wheat into the sea.
39 When day came they did not recognize the land, but they observed a bay with a beach. Into this they planned to run the ship if they could.
40 So abandoning the anchors they left them in the sea; at the same time loosening the bands of the steering oars and raising the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach.
41 But falling into a place where there were cross-currents they ran the ship aground. The bow stuck fast and remained immovable, but the stern was breaking up under the violence of the sea.
42 The soldiers' advice was to kill the prisoners for fear that some one of them might swim out and escape.
43 But the Centurion, wishing to save Paul, kept them back from their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to shore,
44 and the rest to follow, some on boards and some on things from the ship. And so all got safe to land.