Acts 27:37

37 Altogether there were 276 of us on board the ship.

Acts 27:37 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 27:37

And we were in all in the ship
Reckoning the master and owner of the ship, and the centurion and the soldiers, and the apostle and his company, with whatsoever passengers there might be:

two hundred and threescore and sixteen souls;
the Alexandrian copy reads, "two hundred seventy and five"; and the Ethiopic version, "two hundred and six". This account of the number is given to show, that the historian, who was one of them, had an exact knowledge of all in the ship; and this being recorded before the account of the shipwreck, may serve to make the truth of the relation the more to be believed that none of them perished, since their number was so precisely known; and makes it the more marvellous, that such a number of men should be saved, and in a shipwreck; and shows, that there must be a wonderful interposition of divine power to bring them all safe to land.

Acts 27:37 In-Context

35 When he had said this, he took bread, said the b'rakhah to God in front of everyone, broke it and began to eat.

36 With courage restored, they all ate some food themselves.

37 Altogether there were 276 of us on board the ship.

38 After they had eaten all they wanted, they lightened the ship by dumping the grain into the sea.

39 When day broke, they didn't recognize the land; but they noticed a bay with a sand beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could.