Acts 27:21-32

21The men on the ship had not eaten any food for a long time. So Paul stood in front of them and he said, ‘Men, you should have listened to me! We should not have sailed away from Crete. If we had not left there, the ship and everything on it would still be safe.

22Now I ask you, please be brave. The storm will completely destroy the ship, but not one of you will die.

23Last night one of God's angels spoke to me. I am a servant of God and I belong to him. He sent his angel to come to me.

24The angel said, “Paul, do not be afraid. You must go to Rome and Caesar will judge you there. Because of you, God will be kind to all the people on the ship with you. None of them will die.”

25Because of the angel's message, I say to you, “Be brave, my friends!” I trust God. I know that everything will happen in the way that the angel told me.

26But the wind will blow the ship so that we hit an island.’

27The storm had continued for 14 days and nights. The strong wind was blowing the ship across the Mediterranean Sea. About midnight, the sailors thought that we were near to the land.

28So they used a rope to measure how deep the water was. They saw that the water was nearly 40 metres deep. A short time later they did this again. This time the water was only 30 metres deep.

29The sailors were afraid that the ship would hit some rocks. So they dropped four anchors on ropes from the back of the ship into the sea. After that, they prayed that dawn would come soon.

30Some of the sailors tried to leave the ship. They put the small boat into the sea. They tried to go away secretly. They said, ‘We are going to the front of the ship to put some more anchors down into the sea.’ But that was not true.

31Paul said to the army officer and to the soldiers, ‘These sailors must stay on the ship. If they do not stay, you will not be safe. You will die.’

32So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the small boat to the ship. The small boat fell into the water and the wind blew it away.