Acts 27
1599 Geneva Bible
27 1 Paul 7, 9 foretelleth the peril of the voyage, 11 but he is not believed. 14 They are tossed to and fro with the tempest, 22, 41 and suffer shipwreck: 34 Yet all safe and sound 44 escape to land.
1 Now [a]when it was concluded, that we should sail into Italy, they delivered both Paul, and certain other prisoners unto a Centurion, named Julius, of the band of Augustus.
2 And (A)we entered into a ship of Adramyttium, purposing to sail by the coasts of Asia, and launched forth, and had Aristarchus of Macedonia, a Thessalonian, with us.
3 And the next day we arrived at Sidon: and Julius courteously entreated Paul, and gave him liberty to go unto his friends, that they might refresh him.
4 And from thence we launched, and sailed hard by Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.
5 Then sailed we over the sea by Cilicia, and Pamphilia, and came to Myra, a city in Lycia.
6 And there the Centurion found a ship of Alexandria, sailing into Italy, and put us therein.
7 And when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come against Cnidus, because the wind suffered us not, we sailed hard by Candia, near to [b]Salmone,
8 And with much ado sailed beyond it, and came unto a certain place called the Fair Havens, near unto the which was the city Lasea.
9 [c]So when much time was spent, and sailing was now jeopardous, because also the [d]Fast was now passed, Paul exhorted them,
10 And said unto them, Sirs, I see that this voyage will be with hurt, and much damage, not of the lading and ship only, but also of our lives.
11 [e]Nevertheless the Centurion believed rather the governor and the master of the ship, than those things which were spoken of Paul.
12 And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, many took counsel to depart thence, if by any means they might attain to Phoenix, there to winter, which is an haven of Crete, and lieth toward the Southwest and by West, and Northwest and by West.
13 And when the Southern wind blew softly, they supposing to attain their purpose, loosed nearer, and sailed by Crete.
14 But anon after, there arose by [f]it a stormy wind called [g]Euroclydon.
15 And when the ship was caught, and could not resist the wind, we let her go, and were carried away.
16 And we ran under a little Isle named Clauda, and had much ado to get the boat.
17 Which they took up and used all help, undergirding the ship, fearing lest they should have fallen into Syrtis, and they strake sail, and so were carried.
18 [h]The next day when we were tossed with an exceeding tempest, they lightened the ship.
19 And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship.
20 And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay upon us, all hope that we should be saved, was then taken away.
21 [i]But after long abstinence, Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened to me, and not have loosed from Candia: so should ye have gained this hurt and loss.
22 But now I exhort you to be of good courage: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, save of the ship only.
23 For there stood by me this night the Angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve.
24 Saying, Fear not, Paul: for thou must be brought before Caesar: and lo, God hath given unto thee freely, all that sail with thee.
25 [j]Wherefore, Sirs, be of good courage: for I believe God, that it shall be so as it hath been told me.
26 Howbeit, we must be cast into a certain Island.
27 [k]And when the fourteenth night was come, as we were carried to and fro in the [l]Adriatic sea about midnight, the shipmen deemed that some country [m]approached unto them.
28 And sounded, and found it twenty fathoms: and when they had gone a little further, they sounded again, and found fifteen fathoms.
29 Then fearing lest they should have fallen into some rough places, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished that the day were come.
30 [n]Now as the mariners were about to flee out of the ship, and had let down the boat into the sea under a color as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship.
31 [o]Paul said unto the Centurion and the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be safe.
32 Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat, and let it fall away.
33 [p]And when it began to be day, Paul exhorted them all to take meat, saying, This is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried, and continued fasting, receiving nothing:
34 Wherefore I exhort you to take meat: for this is for your safeguard: for there shall not an [q]hair fall from the head of any of you.
35 And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all, and brake it, and began to eat.
36 Then were they all of good courage, and they also took meat.
37 Now we were in the ship in all two hundred threescore and sixteen souls.
38 And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea.
39 [r]And when it was day, they knew not the country, but they spied a certain [s]creek with a bank, into the which they were minded (if it were possible) to thrust in the ship.
40 So when they had taken up the anchors, they committed the ship unto the sea, and loosed the rudder bonds, and hoisted up the main sail to the wind, and drew to the shore.
41 And when they fell into a place, where [t]two seas met, they thrust in the ship: and the forepart stuck fast, and could not be moved, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves.
42 [u]Then the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them, when he had swam out, should flee away.
43 [v]But the Centurion willing to save Paul, stayed them from this counsel, and commanded that they that could swim, should cast themselves first into the sea, and go out to land:
44 [w]And the others, some on boards, and some on certain pieces of the ship: and so it came to pass, that they came all safe to land.
Footnotes
- Acts 27:1 Paul with many other prisoners, and through the midst of many deaths, is brought to Rome, but yet by God’s own hand as it were, and set forth and commended unto the world with many singular testimonies.
- Acts 27:7 Which was an high hill of Candia.
- Acts 27:9 God’s providence taketh not away the causes which God useth as means, but rather ordereth and disposeth their right use even then when he openeth an extraordinary issue.
- Acts 27:9 This is meant of the Jews’ fast, which they keep in the feast of expiation, as we read Lev. 23:27, which fell in the seventh month which we call October, and is not good for navigation, or sailing.
- Acts 27:11 Men cast themselves willingly into an infinite sort of dangers, when they choose to follow their own wisdom, rather than God speaking by the mouth of his servants.
- Acts 27:14 By Candia, from whose shore our ship was driven by that means.
- Acts 27:14 Northeast wind.
- Acts 27:18 The end proveth that none provide worse for themselves, than they which commit themselves to be governed only by their own wisdom.
- Acts 27:21 God spareth the wicked for a time, for his elect and chosen’s sake.
- Acts 27:25 The promise is made effectual through faith.
- Acts 27:27 We attain and come to the promised and sure salvation through the midst of tempests and death itself.
- Acts 27:27 For Ptolemy writeth, that the Adriatic Sea beateth upon the East shore of Cilicia.
- Acts 27:27 That they drew near to some country.
- Acts 27:30 There is none so foul an act, whereupon distrust and an evil conscience do not enforce men.
- Acts 27:31 Although the performing of God’s promises doth not simply depend upon second causes, yet they make themselves unworthy of God’s bountifulness, which do not embrace those means which God offereth them, either upon rashness or distrust.
- Acts 27:33 When the world trembleth, the faithful alone be not only quiet, but confirm others by their example.
- Acts 27:34 This is a proverb which the Hebrews use, whereby is meant, that they shall be safe, and not one of them perish.
- Acts 27:39 Then are tempests most of all to be feared and looked for, when the port or haven is nearest.
- Acts 27:39 A creek is a sea within land, as the Adriatic Sea, and the Persian Sea.
- Acts 27:41 So is Isthmus called, because the sea toucheth it on both sides.
- Acts 27:42 There is nowhere more unfaithfulness and unthankfulness than in unbelievers.
- Acts 27:43 God findeth even amongst his enemies them whose help he useth to preserve his.
- Acts 27:44 The goodness of God overcometh man’s malice.
Acts 27
New Living Translation
Paul Sails for Rome
27 When the time came, we set sail for Italy. Paul and several other prisoners were placed in the custody of a Roman officer[a] named Julius, a captain of the Imperial Regiment. 2 Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was also with us. We left on a ship whose home port was Adramyttium on the northwest coast of the province of Asia;[b] it was scheduled to make several stops at ports along the coast of the province.
3 The next day when we docked at Sidon, Julius was very kind to Paul and let him go ashore to visit with friends so they could provide for his needs. 4 Putting out to sea from there, we encountered strong headwinds that made it difficult to keep the ship on course, so we sailed north of Cyprus between the island and the mainland. 5 Keeping to the open sea, we passed along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, landing at Myra, in the province of Lycia. 6 There the commanding officer found an Egyptian ship from Alexandria that was bound for Italy, and he put us on board.
7 We had several days of slow sailing, and after great difficulty we finally neared Cnidus. But the wind was against us, so we sailed across to Crete and along the sheltered coast of the island, past the cape of Salmone. 8 We struggled along the coast with great difficulty and finally arrived at Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea. 9 We had lost a lot of time. The weather was becoming dangerous for sea travel because it was so late in the fall,[c] and Paul spoke to the ship’s officers about it.
10 “Men,” he said, “I believe there is trouble ahead if we go on—shipwreck, loss of cargo, and danger to our lives as well.” 11 But the officer in charge of the prisoners listened more to the ship’s captain and the owner than to Paul. 12 And since Fair Havens was an exposed harbor—a poor place to spend the winter—most of the crew wanted to go on to Phoenix, farther up the coast of Crete, and spend the winter there. Phoenix was a good harbor with only a southwest and northwest exposure.
The Storm at Sea
13 When a light wind began blowing from the south, the sailors thought they could make it. So they pulled up anchor and sailed close to the shore of Crete. 14 But the weather changed abruptly, and a wind of typhoon strength (called a “northeaster”) burst across the island and blew us out to sea. 15 The sailors couldn’t turn the ship into the wind, so they gave up and let it run before the gale.
16 We sailed along the sheltered side of a small island named Cauda,[d] where with great difficulty we hoisted aboard the lifeboat being towed behind us. 17 Then the sailors bound ropes around the hull of the ship to strengthen it. They were afraid of being driven across to the sandbars of Syrtis off the African coast, so they lowered the sea anchor to slow the ship and were driven before the wind.
18 The next day, as gale-force winds continued to batter the ship, the crew began throwing the cargo overboard. 19 The following day they even took some of the ship’s gear and threw it overboard. 20 The terrible storm raged for many days, blotting out the sun and the stars, until at last all hope was gone.
21 No one had eaten for a long time. Finally, Paul called the crew together and said, “Men, you should have listened to me in the first place and not left Crete. You would have avoided all this damage and loss. 22 But take courage! None of you will lose your lives, even though the ship will go down. 23 For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me, 24 and he said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul, for you will surely stand trial before Caesar! What’s more, God in his goodness has granted safety to everyone sailing with you.’ 25 So take courage! For I believe God. It will be just as he said. 26 But we will be shipwrecked on an island.”
The Shipwreck
27 About midnight on the fourteenth night of the storm, as we were being driven across the Sea of Adria,[e] the sailors sensed land was near. 28 They dropped a weighted line and found that the water was 120 feet deep. But a little later they measured again and found it was only 90 feet deep.[f] 29 At this rate they were afraid we would soon be driven against the rocks along the shore, so they threw out four anchors from the back of the ship and prayed for daylight.
30 Then the sailors tried to abandon the ship; they lowered the lifeboat as though they were going to put out anchors from the front of the ship. 31 But Paul said to the commanding officer and the soldiers, “You will all die unless the sailors stay aboard.” 32 So the soldiers cut the ropes to the lifeboat and let it drift away.
33 Just as day was dawning, Paul urged everyone to eat. “You have been so worried that you haven’t touched food for two weeks,” he said. 34 “Please eat something now for your own good. For not a hair of your heads will perish.” 35 Then he took some bread, gave thanks to God before them all, and broke off a piece and ate it. 36 Then everyone was encouraged and began to eat— 37 all 276 of us who were on board. 38 After eating, the crew lightened the ship further by throwing the cargo of wheat overboard.
39 When morning dawned, they didn’t recognize the coastline, but they saw a bay with a beach and wondered if they could get to shore by running the ship aground. 40 So they cut off the anchors and left them in the sea. Then they lowered the rudders, raised the foresail, and headed toward shore. 41 But they hit a shoal and ran the ship aground too soon. The bow of the ship stuck fast, while the stern was repeatedly smashed by the force of the waves and began to break apart.
42 The soldiers wanted to kill the prisoners to make sure they didn’t swim ashore and escape. 43 But the commanding officer wanted to spare Paul, so he didn’t let them carry out their plan. Then he ordered all who could swim to jump overboard first and make for land. 44 The others held on to planks or debris from the broken ship.[g] So everyone escaped safely to shore.
Footnotes
- 27:1 Greek centurion; similarly in 27:6, 11, 31, 43.
- 27:2 Asia was a Roman province in what is now western Turkey.
- 27:9 Greek because the fast was now already gone by. This fast was associated with the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), which occurred in late September or early October.
- 27:16 Some manuscripts read Clauda.
- 27:27 The Sea of Adria includes the central portion of the Mediterranean.
- 27:28 Greek 20 fathoms . . . 15 fathoms [37 meters . . . 27 meters].
- 27:44 Or or were helped by members of the ship’s crew.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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