How God Strengthens Faith

⁹ When considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, since even the ^[a]fast was already over, Paul started admonishing them, ¹⁰ saying to them, “Men, I perceive that the voyage will certainly be with damage and great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” ¹¹ But the centurion was more persuaded by the pilot and the ^[b]captain of the ship than by what was being said by Paul. ¹² The harbor was not suitable for wintering, so the majority reached a decision to put out to sea from there, if somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete facing southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.

^13 [c]When a moderate south wind came up, thinking that they had attained their purpose, they weighed anchor and began sailing along Crete, closer to shore.

¹⁴ But before very long a violent wind, called ^[d]Euraquilo, rushed down from ^[e]the land; ¹⁵ and when the ship was caught in it and could not head up into the wind, we gave up and let ourselves be driven by the wind. ¹⁶ Running under the shelter of a small island called Cauda, we were able to get the ship’s ^[f]boat under control only with difficulty. ¹⁷ After they had hoisted it up, they used ^[g]supporting cables in undergirding the ship; and fearing that they might run aground on the shallows of Syrtis, they let down the ^[h]sea anchor and let themselves be driven along in this way. ¹⁸ The next day as we were being violently tossed by the storm, ^[i]they began to jettison the cargo; ¹⁹ and on the third day they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. ²⁰ Since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm was assailing us, from then on all hope of our being saved was slowly abandoned.

^21 [j]When many had lost their appetites, Paul then stood among them and said, “^[k]Men, you should have followed my advice and not have set sail from Crete, and thereby spared yourselves this damage and loss. ²² And yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. ²³ For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong, whom I also serve, came to me, ²⁴ saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has graciously granted you all those who are sailing with you.’ ²⁵ Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that ^[l]it will turn out exactly as I have been told. ²⁶ But we must run aground on a certain island.”

²⁷ But when the fourteenth night came, as we were being driven about in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors began to suspect that ^[m]they were approaching some land. ²⁸ And they took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms; and a little farther on they took another sounding and found it to be fifteen fathoms. ²⁹ Fearing that we might run aground somewhere on the ^[n]rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and ^[o]prayed for daybreak. ³⁰ But as the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and had let down the ship’s boat into the sea, on the pretense that they were going to lay out anchors from the bow, ³¹ Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain on the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved.” ³² Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it fall away.

³³ Until the day was about to dawn, Paul kept encouraging them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been constantly watching and going without eating, having taken in nothing. ³⁴ Therefore, I encourage you to take some food, for this is for your survival, for not a hair from the head of any of you will perish.” ³⁵ Having said this, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all, and he broke it and began to eat. ³⁶ All of them ^[p]were encouraged and they themselves also took food. ³⁷ We were 276 ^[q]people on the ship in all. ³⁸ When they had eaten enough, they began lightening the ship by throwing the wheat out into the sea.

³⁹ Now when day came, they ^[r]could not recognize the land; but they did notice a bay with a beach, and they resolved to run the ship onto it if they could. ⁴⁰ And casting off the anchors, they left them in the sea while at the same time they were loosening the ropes of the rudders; and they hoisted the foresail to the wind and were heading for the beach. ⁴¹ But they struck a ^[s]reef where two seas met and ran the ship aground; and the prow stuck firmly and remained immovable, while the stern started to break up due to the force of the waves. ⁴² The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim away and escape; ⁴³ but the centurion, wanting to bring Paul safely through, kept them from accomplishing their intention, and commanded that those who could swim were to ^[t]jump overboard first and get to land, ⁴⁴ and the rest were to follow, some on planks, and others on various things from the ship. And so it happened that they all were brought safely to land.