22. "Now I beg you to be brave. Not one of you will die. Only the ship will be destroyed.
23. I belong to God and serve him. Last night his angel stood beside me.
24. The angel said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You must go on trial in front of Caesar. God has shown his grace by sparing the lives of all those sailing with you.'
25. "Men, continue to be brave. I have faith in God. It will happen just as he told me.
26. But we must run the ship onto the beach of some island."
27. On the 14th night we were still being driven across the Sea of Adria. About midnight the sailors had a feeling that they were approaching land.
28. They measured how deep the water was. They found that it was 120 feet deep. A short time later they measured the water again. This time it was 90 feet deep.
29. They were afraid we would crash against the rocks. So they dropped four anchors from the back of the ship. They prayed that daylight would come.
30. The sailors wanted to escape from the ship. So they let the lifeboat down into the sea. They pretended they were going to lower some anchors from the front of the ship.
31. But Paul spoke to the commander and the soldiers. "These men must stay with the ship," he said. "If they don't, you can't be saved."
32. So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat. They let it drift away.
33. Just before dawn Paul tried to get them all to eat. "For the last 14 days," he said, "you have wondered what would happen. You have gone without food. You haven't eaten anything.
34. Now I am asking you to eat some food. You need it to live. Not one of you will lose a single hair from your head."
35. After Paul said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God. He did this where they all could see him. Then he broke it and began to eat.
36. All of them were filled with hope. So they ate some food.
37. There were 276 of us on board.
38. They ate as much as they wanted. They needed to make the ship lighter. So they threw the rest of the grain into the sea.