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But there's no need to dwell on that now. From now on, things are looking up! I can assure you that there'll not be a single drowning among us, although I can't say as much for the ship - the ship itself is doomed.
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"Last night God's angel stood at my side, an angel of this God I serve,
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saying to me, 'Don't give up, Paul. You're going to stand before Caesar yet - and everyone sailing with you is also going to make it.'
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So, dear friends, take heart. I believe God will do exactly what he told me.
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But we're going to shipwreck on some island or other."
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On the fourteenth night, adrift somewhere on the Adriatic Sea, at about midnight the sailors sensed that we were approaching land.
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Sounding, they measured a depth of one hundred twenty feet, and shortly after that ninety feet.
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Afraid that we were about to run aground, they threw out four anchors and prayed for daylight.
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Some of the sailors tried to jump ship. They let down the lifeboat, pretending they were going to set out more anchors from the bow.
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Paul saw through their guise and told the centurion and his soldiers, "If these sailors don't stay with the ship, we're all going down."
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So the soldiers cut the lines to the lifeboat and let it drift off.