The Early Church

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

When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the great storm continued to batter us, we abandoned all hope of being saved.

After the men had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have followed my advice not to sail from Crete. Then you would have averted this disaster and loss.

But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because you will not experience any loss of life, but only of the ship.

For just last night an angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve, stood beside me

and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And look, God has granted you the lives of all who sail with you.’

So take courage, men, for I believe God that it will happen just as He told me.

However, we must run aground on some island.”

On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea. About midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land.

They took soundings and found that the water was twenty fathoms deep. Going a little farther, they took another set of soundings that read fifteen fathoms.

Fearing that we would run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daybreak.

Meanwhile, the sailors attempted to escape from the ship. Pretending to lower anchors from the bow, they let the lifeboat down into the sea.

But Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain with the ship, you cannot be saved.”

So the soldiers cut the ropes to the lifeboat and set it adrift.

Right up to daybreak, Paul kept urging them all to eat: “Today is your fourteenth day in constant suspense, without taking any food.

So for your own preservation, I urge you to eat something, because not a single hair of your head will be lost.”

After he had said this, Paul took bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat.

They were all encouraged and took some food themselves.

In all, there were 276 of us on board.

After the men had eaten their fill, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.

When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they sighted a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could.

Cutting away the anchors, they left them in the sea as they loosened the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach.

But the vessel struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was being broken up by the pounding of the waves.

The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners so none of them could swim to freedom.

But the centurion, wanting to spare Paul’s life, thwarted their plan. He commanded those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land.