Acts 27

(1) Paul Slowly Sails Toward Rome

The decision was made that they’d ship us to Italy, so Paul and some other prisoners were placed under the custody of a centurion named Julius who was part of the Augustan cohort. We boarded a ship whose home port was Adramyttium and planned to sail up the coast of Western Turkey. There was a Macedonian guy named Aristarchus from Thessalonica who came with us.

The next day, we landed in Sidon, Lebanon and Julius was kind enough to let Paul’s friends care for his needs.

Leaving Sidon, we sailed north between Cyprus and the mainland since the wind wasn’t in our favor. After sailing past Cilicia and Pamphylia [in southern Turkey], we landed at Myra in Lycia [SW Turkey]. The centurion found an Alexandrian ship there that was bound for Italy.

We all boarded that ship and spent several days arduously sailing very slowly before finally arriving in Cnidus [the very northwestern tip of mainland Turkey].

Since the wind didn’t let us go any further, we sailed southwest toward Crete, which is off Salmone. We eventually sailed past Crete with difficulty until we reached a place called Fair Havens, which was close to the city of Lasea. 

(9) Voyage Becomes Dangerous

By then, we had lost so much time that the voyage had gotten dangerous. The fast for Day of Atonement that takes place in September or October had already passed, which made it a dangerous time of year to be at sea. So Paul told the crew,

“Guys, I think we have some damage and significant losses up ahead—not only to our cargo and the ship, but also to our lives.”

But the centurion paid more attention to what the ship’s captain and owner were saying. Since the harbor wasn’t a good place to spend the winter, the majority vote was to keep sailing and hopefully reach Phoenix harbor in Crete and spend the winter there, since it was well positioned.

(13) Passengers Lose Hope

When a moderate wind started blowing from the south, the sailors thought that was their best chance, so they pulled up the anchor and started sailing along the shore of Crete.

But shortly after, a fierce wind started blowing from the land. The ship got caught in the wind, and we weren’t able to turn the ship towards it, so we had to let it blow us wherever it wanted. We were able to hide behind the small island of Clauda, but we could barely get our lifeboat under control. The crew did finally manage to pull it up, and then they tried to fortify the ship by wrapping ropes around its underside and tightening them.

They thought the ship might scrape the bottom in the shallows near Syrtis [a bay north of Libya, Africa], so they let down the anchor and just let the ship be tossed around.

As the storm was tossing us around the next day, the crew started throwing cargo overboard. By the third day, they even threw the ship’s equipment overboard. We hadn’t seen the sun or stars for several days because of how intense the storm was, and any hope we had of survival gradually disappeared. 

(21) Angel Tells Paul No One Will Die

After going a long time without food, Paul stood up in the middle of everyone and said,

“I wish you guys would have listened to my advice. We should have never left Crete and suffered all this damage and loss. But now that we’re here, I urge you to be brave, because none of us will meet our end here—but the ship will. Earlier tonight, a messenger from the God I belong to stood in front of me and said,

‘Don’t be scared Paul. You still need to stand in front of Caesar, and God has given you all the people who are sailing with you.’

“So stay courageous, men! I trust God to have everything unfold the way I’ve been told. But we need to find an island and get off this boat!”

(27) Sailors Trust Paul

By night 14, we were being blown around in the Adriatic Sea, and the sailors thought we were approaching some land. They dropped a line measuring the water as 120 feet deep, then we went a little further, and they remeasured it as 90 feet. Worried that we might crash into the rocks somewhere, they dropped 4 anchors and hoped that the sun would come out soon. The sailors were ready to abandon ship, so they started lowering the lifeboat, intending to drop the anchors. But at that point, Paul told the centurion,

“The only way you guys will be saved is if they stay with the ship.”

After hearing that, the soldiers cut the ropes to the lifeboat and let it fall down. 

(33) Everyone Eats

Paul spent that entire night encouraging everyone to eat, saying,

“You’ve been constantly watching the storm for 14 days now without eating anything. You guys should go ahead and eat some food! The food will save you, because not even a single hair on any of your heads will die!”

After he said that, he grabbed some bread, thanked God for it in front of everyone, and started eating it. Then everyone else lightened up a bit and started eating too.

There were 267 people on the ship in total, and after everyone had gotten enough to eat, they started throwing wheat overboard to lighten the ship. 

(39) Everyone Gets to Land

When daybreak finally came, the crew spotted a bay with a beach. They didn’t recognize the area but decided to try to steer the ship towards the beach and hopefully land there. So the crew cut off the anchors and left them in the sea while loosening the ropes to the rudders. They pulled up the sail and started inching toward the beach. But then we hit a reef where two seas meet and ran the ship into the ground. The front of the ship was stuck, and the back started getting beat up by the waves.

At that point, the Roman soldiers planned to just kill all the prisoners so none of them would swim away and escape. But the centurion wanted to deliver Paul safely, so he shut down that plan and told everyone who could swim to jump overboard and swim to land. The people who couldn’t swim followed, floating on planks and other random objects until everyone made it to land safely.