保罗前往罗马

27 他们决定让我们坐船去意大利,于是将保罗和其他囚犯都交给一位皇家兵团的百夫长犹流看管。 有一艘亚大米田的船准备沿着亚细亚海岸航行。我们上船启航,同船的还有帖撒罗尼迦的马其顿人亚里达古。 第二天,船停泊在西顿港,犹流宽待保罗,准他探望当地的朋友,接受他们的照应。

我们从那里启航后,由于遇到逆风,便沿着塞浦路斯的背风岸前行, 经过基利迦和旁非利亚附近的海域,来到吕迦的每拉。 百夫长在那里找到一艘从亚历山大驶往意大利的船,吩咐我们换搭那艘船。

一连多日船速十分缓慢,好不容易才驶近革尼土。因为强风船无法前行,只好沿着克里特背风岸航行,经过撒摩尼角。 船沿着海岸行进,几经艰难才到达拉西亚城附近的佳澳。

我们耽误了不少日子,禁食的节期[a]已过,航行很危险,保罗劝告众人说: 10 “各位,照我看来,如果我们继续航行,不只会损失货物和船只,甚至连我们的性命也难保。” 11 但那百夫长只相信船主和舵手的话,不接受保罗的劝告。 12 由于佳澳港不适宜过冬,大部分人赞成启航,以为或许可以赶到菲尼基过冬。菲尼基是克里特的一个港口,一面向西南,一面向西北。

惊涛骇浪

13 那时,南风徐徐吹来,他们以为可以按计划继续航行,于是起锚沿着克里特行进。 14 可是出发不久,便遇到从岛上刮来的猛烈的东北风[b] 15 船被刮得失去控制,我们只好任船随风漂流。 16 船沿着一个叫高达的小岛的背风面前进,大家好不容易才控制住救生船。 17 水手把救生船拉上甲板后,又用绳索加固船身。因为怕船会在赛耳底搁浅,于是收起船帆,任船漂流。 18 第二天,风浪依然猛烈,他们开始把货物抛进海里。 19 第三天,他们又亲手把船上的用具也抛掉了。 20 一连好几天都看不到太阳、星辰,风浪肆虐,我们完全放弃了得救的指望。

保罗安慰众人

21 这时大家已经多日没有进食,保罗站在他们当中说:“各位当初如果肯听我劝,不离开克里特,就不会遭受这些损失了。 22 现在我劝大家放心,你们无人会丧命,只是这艘船保不住了。 23 因为昨天晚上,我所归属、所事奉的上帝差遣天使站在我身旁, 24 对我说,‘保罗,不用怕,你一定会站在凯撒面前,上帝也会保全所有和你同船的人。’ 25 所以请各位放心,我深信上帝所说的话必然会成就。 26 只是我们一定会在某个岛上搁浅。”

27 第十四天的晚上,我们在亚得里亚海漂来漂去。到了午夜时分,水手都觉得离陆地不远了, 28 就探测水深,结果约三十六米深,再往前一点,只有二十七米左右。 29 他们怕会触礁,就从船尾抛下四个锚,暂停前进,期待天亮。 30 水手们想要弃船逃生,假装要从船头抛锚,却偷偷地把救生船放到海里。 31 保罗对百夫长和士兵们说:“除非他们留下来,否则你们都活不了!” 32 士兵听了,就砍断绳索,让救生船漂走。

33 到了黎明时分,保罗劝大家吃东西,说:“你们提心吊胆、不思饮食已经十四天了。 34 我劝你们吃点东西,好活下去,你们必定毫发无损。” 35 保罗说完后拿起饼,当众感谢上帝,然后掰开吃。 36 于是大家都振作起来,吃了些东西。 37 船上共有二百七十六人。 38 吃饱了以后,为了要减轻船的重量,他们把麦子抛进海里。

安全登陆

39 天亮的时候,水手发现了一片不认识的陆地,看见一个有沙滩的海湾,便决定尽可能在那里靠岸。 40 于是砍断锚索,把锚丢在海里,松开舵绳,升起前帆,顺着风势驶向那沙滩。 41 可是,遇到两流交汇的水域,就在那里搁了浅,船头卡在那里不能动弹,船尾被大浪撞裂了。

42 士兵们想把囚犯全杀掉,怕有人乘机游泳逃走。 43 但百夫长为了救保罗,不准他们轻举妄动,下令会游泳的先跳到海里游上岸。 44 其余的人利用木板和船体的碎片游上岸。结果,全船的人都安全上岸了。

Footnotes

  1. 27:9 指犹太人的赎罪日,约在阳历九月、十月间(参见利未记23:27)。
  2. 27:14 猛烈的东北风”希腊文是“友拉革罗飓风”。

Soldiers take Paul to Rome

27 Some time after that, Festus decided that we should sail to Italy. So he commanded a soldier called Julius to guard Paul and some other prisoners. Julius was an officer in the Roman army. He had authority over 100 soldiers in a group called ‘The Emperor Augustus Group’.[a]

We went onto a ship that had come from Adramyttium. This ship was ready to leave. It would sail to the towns on the coast of Asia region. A man called Aristarchus also sailed with us. He came from a city in Macedonia called Thessalonica.

The next day after we left Caesarea, we arrived at Sidon. Julius was kind to Paul. He said, ‘Paul, you can go and visit your friends here. They can give you anything that you need.’ Then we sailed out across the sea again. But the wind was blowing against our ship. So we sailed round the island called Cyprus. We sailed on the side of the island where the wind was not strong. When we were near to Cilicia and Pamphylia, we sailed straight across the sea. Then we arrived at Myra, in the region called Lycia. The Roman officer found another ship there. It had sailed from Alexandria and it would sail to Italy. So the officer put us on this ship. We sailed slowly for several days. It was difficult to sail, but after some time we arrived near the town of Cnidus. Because of the strong wind, we could not continue to sail in that direction. So we sailed along the side of the island called Crete, where the wind was not strong. We sailed past the point of land called Salmone. It was still difficult to sail, so we sailed near to the coast. Then we arrived at a place called ‘Safe Port’. This port was near to the town of Lasea.

We remained there for many days. By then it had become dangerous to continue the journey. It was already after the Day of Atonement.[b]

So Paul spoke to the army officer and to the sailors. 10 He said, ‘Friends, I understand that now our journey will be dangerous. The ship may break in pieces. You may lose the things that the ship is carrying. All of us may even die.’ 11 But the army officer did not believe what Paul said. Instead, he decided to do what the owner of the ship and the captain said.[c]

12 This port was not a good place for a ship to remain during the winter. Most of the men on the ship wanted to continue the journey. They wanted to sail as far as Phoenix, if they could get there. They could stay there for the winter. Phoenix was a port on the island called Crete. It was open to the sea both to the south-west and to the north-west.[d]

The ship is in a storm

13 The wind began to blow from the south, but it was not strong. So the sailors thought, ‘Now we can do what we wanted to do. We can sail to Phoenix.’ So they pulled up the ship's anchor and left the port. Then we sailed as near as we could to the coast of Crete.

14 But soon a very strong wind began to blow. This wind blew from the north-east and it blew strongly across the island. 15 The storm hit the ship very powerfully. It was not possible for the sailors to sail the ship straight into the wind. So they did not try to do that any more. Instead, they let the wind blow the ship along. 16 After that, we passed the south end of a small island called Cauda. Here we found a place where the wind did not blow so strongly. The sailors lifted the ship's small boat out of the water to make it safe. 17 They tied it on the ship with ropes. Then they tied some more ropes under the ship so that it would not break in pieces. The men were afraid of what might happen. There were some places along the coast of Libya where the water was not very deep. The ship might hit one of these places and then it might break. So they took the ship's largest sail down. Then they let the wind blow the ship along. 18 The strong storm continued to blow against the ship. The ship was carrying many things. So the next day, the sailors threw some of these things into the sea. 19 The day after that, they took hold of the sails and ropes and they threw them into the sea. 20 For many days, we did not see the sun or any stars.[e] The storm continued to blow strongly. So then we thought, ‘It is not possible for us to remain alive.’

21 The men on the ship had not eaten any food for a long time. So Paul stood in front of them and he said, ‘Men, you should have listened to me! We should not have sailed away from Crete. If we had not left there, the ship and everything on it would still be safe. 22 Now I ask you, please be brave. The storm will completely destroy the ship, but not one of you will die. 23 Last night one of God's angels spoke to me. I am a servant of God and I belong to him. He sent his angel to come to me. 24 The angel said, “Paul, do not be afraid. You must go to Rome and Caesar will judge you there. Because of you, God will be kind to all the people on the ship with you. None of them will die.” 25 Because of the angel's message, I say to you, “Be brave, my friends!” I trust God. I know that everything will happen in the way that the angel told me. 26 But the wind will blow the ship so that we hit an island.’

27 The storm had continued for 14 days and nights. The strong wind was blowing the ship across the Mediterranean Sea. About midnight, the sailors thought that we were near to the land. 28 So they used a rope to measure how deep the water was. They saw that the water was nearly 40 metres deep. A short time later they did this again. This time the water was only 30 metres deep. 29 The sailors were afraid that the ship would hit some rocks. So they dropped four anchors on ropes from the back of the ship into the sea.

After that, they prayed that dawn would come soon. 30 Some of the sailors tried to leave the ship. They put the small boat into the sea. They tried to go away secretly. They said, ‘We are going to the front of the ship to put some more anchors down into the sea.’ But that was not true. 31 Paul said to the army officer and to the soldiers, ‘These sailors must stay on the ship. If they do not stay, you will not be safe. You will die.’ 32 So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the small boat to the ship. The small boat fell into the water and the wind blew it away.

33 Now it was almost dawn. Paul said to everyone, ‘Please eat some food. You have now waited for 14 days for the storm to stop. You did not know what would happen. You have not eaten anything during all that time. 34 You must eat some food now. Then you will be strong enough to stay alive. None of you will die. You will not even lose one hair from your head.’

35 After Paul said this, he took some bread in his hands. He stood in front of them all and he thanked God for the bread. Then he broke the bread into pieces and he began to eat it. 36 Everyone became less afraid and we all ate some food. 37 There were 276 people on the ship. 38 After everyone had eaten enough, the sailors threw bags of wheat off the ship into the sea. Then the ship was not so heavy.[f]

The sea completely destroys the ship

39 In the morning, the ship was near to some land, but the sailors did not recognize the place. They saw a place on the shore where there was a lot of sand. They wanted to drive the ship onto the sand. 40 So the sailors cut the ropes which had the anchors on them. They left the anchors there in the sea. They also removed the ropes which had tied the rudders. Then they raised the sail at the front of the ship. Now the wind could blow the ship straight towards the shore. 41 But there was a place in the sea where the water was not deep. The ship sailed onto the sand in this place and it stayed there. The front of the ship pushed into the sand and it could not move. The sea was very strong and it hit against the back of the ship. As a result, the back of the ship broke into pieces.

42 The soldiers decided to kill the prisoners that they were guarding. They did not want these men to swim to the land and escape. 43 But the army officer wanted to save Paul. So he commanded the soldiers not to kill the men. Instead he said, ‘Everyone who can swim, jump into the water first. Then swim to the shore. 44 You other people must follow them. Hold on to pieces of wood, or pieces of the ship.’

In this way all of us got safely out of the sea and we arrived on the land.

Footnotes

  1. 27:1 Luke was with Paul on this journey.
  2. 27:9 If all this happened in the year AD 59, the Day of Atonement was on 5th October that year. It was dangerous to travel by ship after the beginning of October. The winds were very strong. The Day of Atonement was a special day when the Jews asked God to forgive them.
  3. 27:11 The owner was the man that the ship belonged to. The captain had authority on the ship to sail it and to tell the sailors what to do.
  4. 27:12 South-west means in a direction between south and west. North-west means in a direction between north and west.
  5. 27:20 At that time, sailors looked at the sun and the stars. Then they knew where they were.
  6. 27:38 Wheat is a plant. People use wheat to make bread. But this wheat was not food for the sailors. The ship was carrying the wheat to Rome.

往羅馬出航

27 既然決定了我們要坐船往意大利去,他們就把保羅和其他一些囚犯交給皇家軍團的一個名叫猶利烏斯的百夫長。 有一條阿德米提的船,要開往亞細亞省沿岸各地,我們就上那船出發了。有一個從帖撒羅尼迦來的馬其頓亞里達古,與我們在一起。 第二天,我們在西頓靠岸。猶利烏斯寬待保羅,准許他到朋友那裡去接受照顧。 我們從那裡起航,因為逆風,就沿著塞浦路斯島的背風岸航行。 度過了奇里乞亞省和潘菲利亞省一帶的海域,在呂基亞省的每拉登陸。 百夫長在那裡找到了一條亞歷山大的船,要開往意大利去,就安排我們上了那船。 一連好幾天,船航行得很慢,好不容易才到了尼多斯港附近。因為風攔阻我們往前,我們就從撒摩尼岬附近經過,沿著克里特島的背風岸航行。 我們沿著它航行,好不容易來到一個叫做「美麗港」的地方;離那裡不遠,有個城叫做拉塞亞

不聽保羅的建議

又過了很久,這次航程已經很危險,又因為已經過了禁食日[a]保羅就勸大家, 10 說:「各位,我看這次航程,不僅是貨物和船,就是我們的生命財產也將會受到傷害和嚴重的損失。」 11 可是百夫長信任了船長和船主,不信任保羅所說的, 12 而且這港口不適合過冬,大多數人就主張從那裡開船,或許能夠到達菲尼斯過冬。菲尼斯克里特島上的一個港口,一面朝西南,一面朝西北。

風暴中飄搖

13 這時,南風微微吹起,他們以為正合所願,就起了錨,沿著克里特島航行。 14 但是過了不久,一股叫做「東北風」的颶風,從島上襲來。 15 船被困住,頂不住風,我們只好任憑船被颳走。 16 我們沿著一個叫做克勞達小島的背風岸行駛的時候,好不容易才控制住救生艇。 17 水手們[b]把救生艇拖上來以後,就用纜繩繞過大船底綁好;又怕在敘爾提斯淺灘上會擱淺,就把錨放低,任船漂流。 18 我們被暴風猛烈地襲擊。第二天,他們開始把貨物拋在海裡。 19 第三天,他們又親手把船上的用具拋出去。

20 一連好幾天見不到太陽和星星,又有暴風雨催逼著,最後我們連獲救的希望都斷絕了。 21 那時,大家已經很久沒有吃東西了,保羅站在他們當中說:「哦,各位啊!你們當初應該聽我的,不從克里特開船,省得有這樣的傷害和損失。 22 只是現在我勸你們振作起來,因為你們當中不會有人失去性命,不過會失去這條船。 23 要知道,我所歸屬、所事奉的神,他的一位天使昨天晚上站在我身邊, 24 說:『保羅,不要怕!你必須站在凱撒面前。看哪,所有與你同船的人,神都賜給你了。』 25 所以請各位振作起來,因為我相信神怎樣對我說,事情也會怎樣成就。 26 不過我們必須擱淺在一個島上。」

27 到了第十四天的晚上,我們在亞得里亞海上飄來飄去。約在半夜,水手們認為已經靠近陸地了, 28 就測了水深,發現有三十七公尺[c];稍往前行,再測一測,發現有二十七公尺[d] 29 他們擔心會撞到礁石,就從船尾拋下四個錨,祈盼著天亮。

30 水手們想離船逃生,就把救生艇放到海裡,卻假裝要從船頭拋錨。 31 保羅對百夫長和士兵們說:「這些人如果不留在船上,你們就不能獲救。」 32 於是士兵們就把救生艇的繩索砍斷,由它漂去。

33 天快亮的時候[e]保羅勸大家用飯,說:「你們一直挨餓等候,什麼都不吃,今天是第十四天了。 34 所以我勸你們用飯,因為這是關於你們得救的事。要知道,你們中間,沒有一個人會失去[f]一根頭髮。」 35 說完這些話,保羅就拿起餅,在大家面前感謝神,然後掰開來,開始吃。 36 於是大家受到鼓勵,也吃了飯。 37 我們在船上的,共有兩百七十六個人[g] 38 大家吃飽了飯,就把麥子扔到海裡,減輕船的負荷。

船隻遇難

39 天亮的時候,他們雖然不認識那地方,卻看見一個有沙灘的海灣,就決定盡可能地把船攏進去。 40 於是他們砍斷了錨,把它們丟棄在海裡,同時鬆開舵繩,拉起了前帆,順著風向岸前進。 41 但遇到海水夾流的地方,船就擱了淺,船頭被卡住,動彈不得,而船尾也開始被波浪的猛力衝散了。

42 士兵們的計劃是要把囚犯殺了,免得有人游泳逃脫。 43 可是百夫長想救保羅,就攔阻了他們的計劃,命令會游泳的人跳下船,先到岸上去, 44 其餘的人,有的用木板,有的用船上的東西跟著[h];這樣,大家就都獲救上岸了。

Footnotes

  1. 使徒行傳 27:9 禁食日——指「(猶太人的)贖罪日」。
  2. 使徒行傳 27:17 水手們——原文直譯「他們」。
  3. 使徒行傳 27:28 三十七公尺——原文為「20歐貴亞」。1歐貴亞=185公分。
  4. 使徒行傳 27:28 二十七公尺——原文為「15歐貴亞」。1歐貴亞=185公分。
  5. 使徒行傳 27:33 天快亮的時候——原文直譯「白晝就要來臨了」。
  6. 使徒行傳 27:34 失去——有古抄本作「掉」。
  7. 使徒行傳 27:37 人——原文直譯「靈魂」。
  8. 使徒行傳 27:44 跟著——輔助詞語。