New Testament in a Year

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]

² 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.

³ 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.’ ⁴ 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. ⁵ When we were near to Cilicia and Pamphylia, we sailed straight across the sea. Then we arrived at Myra, in the region called Lycia. ⁶ 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. ⁷ 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. ⁸ 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.

⁹ 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.’