Acts 27 in the early church

When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the Imperial Regiment.

We boarded an Adramyttian ship about to sail for ports along the coast of Asia, and we put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us.

“Men, I can see that our voyage will be filled with disaster and great loss, not only to ship and cargo, but to our own lives as well.”

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.

For just last night an angel of the God to whom I belong 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.’

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

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.

In all, there were 276 of us on board.

But the ship 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.

The rest were to follow on planks and various parts of the ship. In this way everyone was brought safely to land.