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.
38
After everyone had eaten enough, they lightened the ship by throwing all the wheat into the sea.
39
When day came, the sailors did not recognize the coast, but they noticed a bay with a beach and decided that, if possible, they would run the ship aground there.
40
So they cut off the anchors and let them sink in the sea, and at the same time they untied the ropes that held the steering oars. Then they raised the sail at the front of the ship so that the wind would blow the ship forward, and we headed for shore.
41
But the ship hit a sandbank and went aground; the front part of the ship got stuck and could not move, while the back part was being broken to pieces by the violence of the waves.
42
The soldiers made a plan to kill all the prisoners, in order to keep them from swimming ashore and escaping.