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Last night an angel came to me from the God I belong to and worship.
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The angel said, 'Paul, do not be afraid. You must stand before Caesar. And God has promised you that he will save the lives of everyone sailing with you.'
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So men, have courage. I trust in God that everything will happen as his angel told me.
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But we will crash on an island."
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On the fourteenth night we were still being carried around in the Adriatic Sea. About midnight the sailors thought we were close to land,
28
so they lowered a rope with a weight on the end of it into the water. They found that the water was one hundred twenty feet deep. They went a little farther and lowered the rope again. It was ninety feet deep.
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The sailors were afraid that we would hit the rocks, so they threw four anchors into the water and prayed for daylight to come.
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Some of the sailors wanted to leave the ship, and they lowered the lifeboat, pretending they were throwing more anchors from the front of the ship.
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But Paul told the officer and the other soldiers, "If these men do not stay in the ship, your lives cannot be saved."
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So the soldiers cut the ropes and let the lifeboat fall into the water.
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Just before dawn Paul began persuading all the people to eat something. He said, "For the past fourteen days you have been waiting and watching and not eating.