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ActesChapitre 27

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When it was decided that we should sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius, of the Imperial Cohort.
We boarded a ship from Adramyttium that was about to sail to ports along the coast of Asia, and we put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us.
The next day we landed at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul kindly, allowing him to go to his friends and be cared for.
From there we put out to sea and sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us.
After crossing the open sea off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia.
There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship bound for Italy and put us aboard.
We made slow headway for many days and struggled to arrive off Cnidus. Since the wind did not allow us to hold our course, we sailed under the lee of Crete, off Salmone.
Coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea.
Much time had been lost, and sailing had already become dangerous because the Fast was now over. So Paul warned them,
"Men, I can see that this voyage is going to bring disaster and heavy loss—not only to the cargo and the ship, but to our own lives as well."
But the centurion was persuaded by the pilot and the ship's owner rather than by what Paul said.
Since the harbor was unsuitable for wintering, the majority decided to sail on from there, hoping somehow to reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete facing southwest and northwest, and to spend the winter there.
When a gentle south wind began to blow, they thought they had what they wanted; so they weighed anchor and sailed along close to the shore of Crete.
But before long a hurricane-force wind, called the Northeaster, swept down from the island.
The ship was caught and could not head into the wind, so we gave way and were driven along.
As we passed under the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were barely able to get the ship's boat under control.
When they had hoisted it aboard, they used ropes to undergird the ship. Fearing they would run aground on the Syrtis sandbars, they lowered the sea anchor and let the ship be driven along.
We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard,
and on the third day they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands.
When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued to rage, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.
After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up among them and said: "Men, you should have listened to me and not put out from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this disaster and loss.
But now I urge you to keep up your courage, for not one of you will be lost—only the ship.
Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me
and said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.'
So keep up your courage, men, for I trust God that it will happen just as he told me.
Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island."
On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea when, about midnight, the sailors sensed they were approaching land.
They took soundings and found the water twenty fathoms deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found it fifteen fathoms deep.
Fearing we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight.
The sailors tried to escape from the ship; they lowered the ship's boat into the sea, pretending they were going to let out anchors from the bow.
Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, "Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved."
So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the ship's boat and let it fall away.
Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. "For the last fourteen days," he said, "you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven't eaten a thing.
Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head."
After he said this, he took bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat.
They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves.
Altogether there were two hundred seventy-six of us on board.
When they had eaten their fill, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.
When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could.
Cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea; at the same time they untied the ropes that held the rudders, hoisted the foresail to the wind, and made for the beach.
But the ship struck a sandbar where two currents met and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, while the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf.
The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners so that none of them could swim away and escape.
But the centurion wanted to spare Paul's life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land,
and the rest to follow on planks or on pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely.
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