27
It was the fourteenth night, and we were being driven in the Mediterranean by the storm. About midnight the sailors suspected that we were getting close to land.
28
So they dropped a line with a weight tied to it and found that the water was one hundred and twenty feet deep; a little later they did the same and found that it was ninety feet deep.
29
They were afraid that the ship would go on the rocks, so they lowered four anchors from the back of the ship and prayed for daylight.
30
Then the sailors tried to escape from the ship; they lowered the boat into the water and pretended that they were going to put out some anchors from the front of the ship.
31
But Paul said to the army officer and soldiers, "If the sailors don't stay on board, you have no hope of being saved."
32
So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the boat and let it go.
33
Just before dawn, Paul begged them all to eat some food: "You have been waiting for fourteen days now, and all this time you have not eaten a thing.
34
I beg you, then, eat some food; you need it in order to survive. Not even a hair of your heads will be lost."
35
After saying this, Paul took some bread, gave thanks to God before them all, broke it, and began to eat.
36
They took courage, and every one of them also ate some food.
37
There was a total of 276 of us on board.