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talked among themselves, saying, This man doth nothing worthy of death or of bonds: 32 then said Agrippa to Festus, This man might have been released, if he had not appealed to Cesar.

AN

CHAPTER XXVII.

ND when it was determined that we should sail to Italy, they delivered Paul, and some other prisoners, to a centurion of Augustus' band, named Julius:

2 and, embarking in a ship of Adramyttium, we put to sea, being to sail to the ports of Asia; Aristarchus the Macedonian, of Thessalonica, being with us.

3 And the next day, we touched at Sidon; and Julius treated Paul kindly, and permitted him to go to his friends to receive their attentions.

4 And bearing away from thence, we sailed under Cyprus, because the winds were contrary:

5 and sailing through the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, of Lycia:

6 and the centurion finding there an Alexandrian ship sailing to Italy, he put us on board it.

7 And sailing slowly for several days, and being scarcely

come off Cnidus, the wind not favouring us, we sailed under Crete, by Salmone;

8 and, passing it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair-havens; near to which was the city of Lasea.

9 but, much time having been spent and the navigation being already become danger

ous, also because the Nesteia, viz. a heathen

festival, cele

south of Italy,

or Fast, was now past, Paul brated in the admonished them; saying to on the 16th of them,

10 Friends, I perceive that this voyage will be with injury and much damage, not only of the lading and of the ship, but also of our lives:

11 but the centurion trusted to the pilot and the master of the ship, more than to the words spoken by Paul:

12 and, because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the greater part advised; to depart from thence, and, if they possibly could, to reach and winter at Phoenice, an haven of Crete looking to the south-west and north-west.

13 And, as the south wind began to blow, supposing that they had gained their purpose, they weighed and stood along the coast of Crete:

October.

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by it, and could not bear up against the wind, we let it drive:

16 and running under a certain small island called Cauda, we were hardly able to secure the boat;

17 which when they had taken up, they applied supports by undergirding the ship: and, fearing lest they should fall into the quicksand, they lowered the sail, and so were driven.

18 And, as we were exceedingly tossed by the tempest, the next day they threw out some of the lading :

19 and the third day they cast out, with their own hands, the furniture of the ship.

20 And as neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was at last taken away.

21 But, after long abstinence, Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Friends, ye ought to have attended to me; and not to have loosed from Crete, and have gained this injury and damage;

22 yet, now, I exhort you to be of good cheer; for, there will be no loss of life among you, only of the ship:

23 for, an angel of the God whose I am, and whom I serve, stood by me this night,

24 saying, "Fear not, Paul; "thou must stand before Cesar: " and, lo, God hath given to "thee all them that sail with "thee:"

25 wherefore, friends, be of good cheer; for I confide in God, that it will be even as it was told me:

26 nevertheless, we must be cast upon a certain island.

27 And when the fourteenth night was come, while we were driven along in the Adria, about midnight the seamen suspected that they drew near to some land:

28 and sounding, they found twenty fathoms; and going on a little further, they sounded again, and found fifteen fathoms:

29 and fearing that we should run on rocky ground, they cast out four anchors from the stern, and longed for day.

30 And as the seamen were preparing to escape out of the ship, having let down the boat into the sea, under pretence that they were going to put out anchors from the foreship, 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 the ropes of the boat, and let it fall off.

33 And as soon as it began to be daylight, Paul besought

them all to take nourishment, saying, Four days, even this day, ye have waited and continue fasting, having taken nothing: 34 wherefore, I beseech you to take some nourishment; for this concerns your preservation: for, not an hair of the head of any one of you shall perish :

35 and when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God before them all; and when he had broken it, he began to eat : 36 and all being thus encouraged, they also took nourish

ment:

37 and all we in the ship, were about seventy souls: 38 and when they were tho

but the stern was shattered by the force of the sea.

42 And the soldiers' counsel was, to kill the prisoners, lest any should swim out, and escape;

43 but the centurion, wishing to save Paul, withheld them from their purpose; and commanded, that those who could swim should cast themselves out, and get first to the land;

44 and the rest, some on planks, and others on some article of the ship: and thus it came to pass, that all were brought safe to the land.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

roughly satisfied with food, they AND when we were saved, unburthened the ship, casting out the corn into the sea.

39 And when it was day, they knew not the land; but they perceived a certain creek with a beach, into which they determined, if it were possible, to run the ship;

40 and cutting away the anchors, they let them fall into the sea at the same time, loosing the rudder-bands, and hoisting the mainsail, they drove down before the gale towards the beach :

41 but, falling into a place where the sea was divided by a headland, they ran the ship aground; and the head sticking fast, remained unmoveable,

we then knew that the island was called Melita.

2 And the natives shewed us no ordinary kindness; for they received us all, and kindled a fire, both on account of the present rain, and on account of the cold:

3 but, when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and was laying them on the fire, a viper came out from the heat, and fastened on his hand :

4 and when the natives saw the beast hanging on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped from the sea, vengeance suffereth not to live;

5 but he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm: 6 yet they expected that he would have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but, after they had waited a long while, and saw no harm happen to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god. 7 And in the neighbourhood of that place were possessions of the chief person of the island, whose name was Publius; who received us, and lodged us courteously three days:

8 and it came to pass, that the father of Publius was lying ill of a fever and dysentery; to whom Paul entered, and after he had prayed, he laid his hands on him, and healed him:

9 and when this was done, all the others also, in the island, that had diseases, came, and were healed:

10 who also rendered to us many attentions; and, when we departed, put on board such things as were needful for us.

11 And at the end of three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the island, whose ensign was Castor and Pollux;

12 and landing at Syracuse, we remained there three days: from whence, sailing round, we came to Rhegium:

13 and after one day the

south wind blowing, we came the next day to Puteoli:

14 where we found brethren, and were entreated to stay with them seven days: and so we went toward Rome:

15 but when the brethren there heard of us, they came from thence to meet us, as far as Appii Forum, and the Three Taverns; whom when Paul saw, he gave thanks to God, and took courage.

16 And when we came to Rome, Paul was permitted to lodge by himself, with the soldier that guarded him :

17 and it came to pass, that after three days he called together the chiefs of the Jews; and when they were assembled, he said to them, Brethren, though I had done nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, I was delivered a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans;

18 who, when they had examined me, would have released me, because there was no cause of death in me;

19 but, because the Jews opposed them, I was constrained to appeal to Cesar: not that I have any thing of which to accuse my nation:

20 for this cause, therefore, I have requested to see you, and to speak with you; because, for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain :

21 and they said to him, We neither have received letters

from Judea concerning thee, nor hath any one of the brethren that is come here, told or spoken any ill of thee:

22 but, we are desirous to hear from thee what thou thinkest; for, as to this sect, it is notorious to us that it is every where opposed.

23 And having appointed him a day, many came to him, to his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, endeavouring to persuade them of the things concerning Jesus, both from the law of Moses and from the prophets, from morning till evening:

24 and some believed the words which were spoken:

25 but some believed them not; and being at variance among themselves, they separated, when Paul had spoken to them this one word; Well spake the Holy Spirit to our fathers, by the prophet Isaiah,

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26 saying,

"Go to this peo- Isa. vi. 9.

ple, and say, Hearing ye "will hear, and will not "understand; and seeing ye "will see, and will not per"ceive;

27 "for the heart of this "people is become gross, and "with their ears they are "dull of hearing, and their "eyes they have closed; lest "they should see with their eyes, and hear with their

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ears, and understand with "their heart, and be con"verted, and I should heal "them:"

28 be it known to you, therefore, that this salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles, and c. xviii. 6. they will hearken to it.

29 And he dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all who came to him;

30 proclaiming the kingdom of God, and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness; no one forbidding him.

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