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.
