|
| Chapter 27 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
|
1 ¶ And when it was determined that we should sail to Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus’ band. 2 And entering into a ship from Adramyttium, we launched, meaning to sail along the coasts of Asia, one Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us. 3 And the next day we touched at Sidon. And Julius treated Paul courteously, and gave him liberty to go unto his friends to refresh himself. 4 And when we had launched from thence, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary. 5 And when we had sailed over the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. 6 And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy, and he put us aboard. 7 And when we had sailed slowly many days and scarcely had come as far as Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone; 8 and, with difficulty passing by it, we came unto a place which is called The Fair Havens, nigh unto the city of Lasea. 9 Now after much time had been lost, and when sailing was now dangerous because the Fast was now already past, Paul admonished them 10 and said unto them, "Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be attended by hurt and much damage, not only to the lading and ship, but also to our lives." 11 Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, rather than those things which were spoken by Paul. 12 ¶ And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the greater number advised to depart thence also, hoping that by some means they might attain Phoenix, which is a haven of Crete and lieth toward the southwest and northwest, and there to winter. 13 And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, casting loose from thence, they sailed close by Crete. 14 But not long after, there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon. 15 And when the ship was caught and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive. 16 And running under the lee of a certain island, which is called Clauda, we had much work in securing the boat, 17 which when they had taken up, they used helps to undergird the ship. And fearing lest they should fall into the quicksand's, they struck sail, and so were driven. 18 And being exceedingly tossed by a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship; 19 and the third day we cast out with our own hands the ship’s tackle. 20 And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away. 21 ¶ But after long fasting, Paul stood forth in the midst of them and said, "Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and should not have cast loose from Crete and suffered this harm and loss. 22 And now I exhort you to be of good cheer, for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship only. 23 For there stood by me this night the angel of God, to whom I belong and whom I serve, 24 saying, ’Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar. And lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.’ 25 Therefore sirs, be of good cheer, for I believe God, and that it shall be even as it was told to me. 26 Nonetheless, we must be cast upon a certain island." 27 But when the fourteenth night had come, as we were being driven up and down in the Adriatic, about midnight the shipmen deemed that we were drawing near to some land. 28 And they took a sounding and found it to be twenty fathoms deep; and when they had gone a little further, they sounded again and found it fifteen fathoms. 29 Then, fearing lest we should be driven upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day. 30 And as the shipmen were about to flee from the ship, and had let down the boat into the sea under the pretext that they would cast anchors out of the prow, 31 Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, "Unless these remain in the ship, ye cannot be saved." 32 Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat, and let her fall off. 33 And as the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, "This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing. 34 Therefore I pray you to take some meat, for this is for your health; for there shall not a hair fall from the head of any of you." 35 And when he had thus spoken, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all; and when he had broken it, he began to eat. 36 Then they were all of good cheer, and they also took some meat. 37 And we were in all on the ship, two hundred threescore and sixteen souls. 38 And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship and cast out the wheat into the sea. 39 And when it was day, they knew not the land, but they discovered a certain creek with a shore, into which they were minded, if it were possible, to thrust in the ship. 40 And when they had taken up the anchors, they committed themselves unto the sea, and loosed the rudder ropes, and hoisted up the mainsail into the wind, and made toward shore. 41 And falling into a place where two currents met, they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast and remained immovable, but the stern began to break up with the violence of the waves. 42 And the soldier’s counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out and escape. 43 But the centurion, desiring to save Paul, kept them from their purpose, and commanded that those who could swim should cast themselves first into the sea and get to land, 44 and the rest, some on boards and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass that they all escaped safely to land. |
Paul had always wanted to go to Rome Acts 19:21 but not as a prisoner. God had promised that he would witness for Him in Rome Acts 23:11. Paul, having appealed to be tried by Caesar, now sets out on the journey to Rome. v1-5 A number of prisoners are loaded onto a ship at Adramyttium in Caesarea, being under the control of a Centurion Julius, they set sail for Sidon, about 80 miles away. At Sidon the centurion allows Paul to visit his friends. Luke goes into considerable detail on this journey, to show the faith of Paul and the effect it has on others. Both Luke and Aristarchus are travelling with Paul. Paul called Aristarchus "his fellow prisoner" Col 4:10 though there is no record of him being arrested, possibly Aristarchus has voluntarily joined Paul in the prison to give him help. The ship continues onto Myra in Lycia using Cyprus for protection against the winds. The Centurion and prisoners now change to a larger ship travelling from Alexandria in Egypt to Italy. This must have been quite a large ship as in v37-38 we read of 276 people being on the ship. The ship was probably carrying grain to Rome as Egypt was a large supplier of grain for Rome. The Roman Centurion becomes impatient v7-9,12. v7 The weather slowed the ships progress, "many days" were taken for the 130 miles from Myra to Cnidus. From there they sailed south southwest under the protection of Crete eventually arriving at the port Fair Havens near Lasea on Crete. The "Fast" refers to the "Day of Atonement" which occurs September/October. It was now probably September and the area was now entering the winter, storms would be expected. The Roman Centurion ignores advice from God. v10 suggests that Paul may have received a warning from God about the coming journey. However, the captain of the boat said it was safe and the centurion accepted his decision. Why would the centurion not accept Paul’s warning. Fair Havens was not well protected from the winter storms, it would not therefore be comfortable to spend the winter there. Phoenix, 40 miles away, and was a far better port to spend the winter, so they set sail. The Roman Centurion "walks by sight, and signs". v13-15 At first the wind was gentle, but Paul’s warning was soon proved right. The word "tempestuous" means "typhoon." The sailors were talking about Euroclydon meant "a northeasterner." The wind was so strong that the sailors were not able to put the sails up, they just let the boat drift as they could not steer the boat. v16-19 The boat ends up 23 miles to the south, off the island of Cauda. The sailors then pull in a small boat which was often towed behind the ship, this was to prevent it being damaged or damaging the ship by being tossed against it. They also wrapped ropes or chains round the hull of the boat to give it more strength. The next day they start throwing overboard some of the cargo trying to make the ship lighter. Finally on the third day they threw overboard the ships furniture. The "we" in v19 showed all were involved in this work. v20 They were unable to see the sun or stars to use them to work out their position, the situation seemed hopeless. v21-24 Paul, the prisoner, now takes control, Paul quietly reminds them of his warning, but then goes on to share the Word of God with them, he tells them that God had told him that no one would be lost, only the boat would be wrecked. v24 God has reminded Paul of His promise, "you will be brought to Caesar." However, God has told me that the ship will be wrecked upon a certain island. Once again God has given a word of encouragement to Paul. v27-32 Paul gives further warnings in faith. After fourteen days at sea and drifted 500 miles off course into the Adrian sea, now called the Ionian sea, the crew feel that they are near land and confirm that the water depth was getting shallower, from 120 feet to 90 feet. After dropping four anchors in an attempt to stop the boat running onto any rocks on the shore some of the crew decided to leave the ship by getting into the small boat (v16). This was an act of unbelief, Paul had told them of God’s promise, if they left the ship God would not offer His protection. The soldiers accepted Paul’s reminder and cut the small boat free, so preventing any one leaving. v33-38 With the arrival of daylight Paul gives them encouragement to eat, apparently they had gone without food during the storm, he knew that they would need all their strength in the next few hours. v39-44 On the arrival of daylight they saw that they were approaching a gap in the shore and the crew tried to steer the ship. Letting go the anchors and putting the sail up headed for the shore. Their action failed, the boat was caught in the offshore currents and ran on to the rocks. With the front of the ship stuck in the rocks the waves now beat the back of the ship so it starts to breakup. The crew and passengers had no choice but to jump into the sea and try to swim to the shore. The soldiers were concerned about their prisoners, if they escaped the soldiers would be punished, even death, so they proposed to kill the prisoners, but the centurion, because he wanted to protect Paul stopped them. Just as God had promised, all the people on the ship made it to the land. In this passage we must note the trust and faith of Paul in God’s promises, even though there appeared no way out God was in charge of the situation. It also reminds us of the danger of ignoring the warnings of God, the captain and the centurion failed to believe the warnings God gave Paul, v11. |
Easy English Translation
| Back to previous page |
| The Acts of the Apostles |
