Paul Sails for Rome
1 When it was decided that we should sail to Italy, they handed Paul and some other prisoners over to Julius, an officer in the Roman army regiment called “The Emperor's Regiment.” 2 We went aboard a ship from Adramyttium, which was ready to leave for the seaports of the province of Asia, and we sailed away. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us. 3 The next day we arrived at Sidon. Julius was kind to Paul and allowed him to go and see his friends, to be given what he needed. 4 We went on from there, and because the winds were blowing against us, we sailed on the sheltered side of the island of Cyprus. 5 We crossed over the sea off Cilicia and Pamphylia and came to Myra in Lycia. 6 There the officer found a ship from Alexandria that was going to sail for Italy, so he put us aboard.
7 We sailed slowly for several days and with great difficulty finally arrived off the town of Cnidus. The wind would not let us go any farther in that direction, so we sailed down the sheltered side of the island of Crete, passing by Cape Salmone. 8 We kept close to the coast and with great difficulty came to a place called Safe Harbors, not far from the town of Lasea.
9 We spent a long time there, until it became dangerous to continue the voyage, for by now the Day of Atonement was already past. So Paul gave them this advice: 10 “Men, I see that our voyage from here on will be dangerous; there will be great damage to the cargo and to the ship, and loss of life as well.” 11 But the army officer was convinced by what the captain and the owner of the ship said, and not by what Paul said. 12 The harbor was not a good one to spend the winter in; so almost everyone was in favor of putting out to sea and trying to reach Phoenix, if possible, in order to spend the winter there. Phoenix is a harbor in Crete that faces southwest and northwest.
The Storm at Sea
13 A soft wind from the south began to blow, and the men thought that they could carry out their plan, so they pulled up the anchor and sailed as close as possible along the coast of Crete. 14 But soon a very strong wind—the one called “Northeaster”—blew down from the island. 15 It hit the ship, and since it was impossible to keep the ship headed into the wind, we gave up trying and let it be carried along by the wind. 16 We got some shelter when we passed to the south of the little island of Cauda. There, with some difficulty we managed to make the ship's boat secure. 17 They pulled it aboard and then fastened some ropes tight around the ship. They were afraid that they might run into the sandbanks off the coast of Libya, so they lowered the sail and let the ship be carried by the wind. 18 The violent storm continued, so on the next day they began to throw some of the ship's cargo overboard, 19 and on the following day they threw part of the ship's equipment overboard. 20 For many days we could not see the sun or the stars, and the wind kept on blowing very hard. We finally gave up all hope of being saved.
21 After everyone had gone a long time without food, Paul stood before them and said, “You should have listened to me and not have sailed from Crete; then we would have avoided all this damage and loss. 22 But now I beg you, take courage! Not one of you will lose your life; only the ship will be lost. 23 For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship came to me 24 and said, ‘Don't be afraid, Paul! You must stand before the Emperor. And God in his goodness to you has spared the lives of all those who are sailing with you.’ 25 So take courage, men! For I trust in God that it will be just as I was told. 26 But we will be driven ashore on some island.”
27 It was the fourteenth night, and we were being driven in the Mediterranean by the storm. About midnight the sailors suspected that we were getting close to land. 28 So they dropped a line with a weight tied to it and found that the water was one hundred and twenty feet deep; a little later they did the same and found that it was ninety feet deep. 29 They were afraid that the ship would go on the rocks, so they lowered four anchors from the back of the ship and prayed for daylight. 30 Then the sailors tried to escape from the ship; they lowered the boat into the water and pretended that they were going to put out some anchors from the front of the ship. 31 But Paul said to the army officer and soldiers, “If the sailors don't stay on board, you have no hope of being saved.” 32 So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the boat and let it go.
33 Just before dawn, Paul begged them all to eat some food: “You have been waiting for fourteen days now, and all this time you have not eaten a thing. 34 I beg you, then, eat some food; you need it in order to survive. Not even a hair of your heads will be lost.” 35 After saying this, Paul took some bread, gave thanks to God before them all, broke it, and began to eat. 36 They took courage, and every one of them also ate some food. 37 There was a total of 276 of us on board. 38 After everyone had eaten enough, they lightened the ship by throwing all the wheat into the sea.
The Shipwreck
39 When day came, the sailors did not recognize the coast, but they noticed a bay with a beach and decided that, if possible, they would run the ship aground there. 40 So they cut off the anchors and let them sink in the sea, and at the same time they untied the ropes that held the steering oars. Then they raised the sail at the front of the ship so that the wind would blow the ship forward, and we headed for shore. 41 But the ship hit a sandbank and went aground; the front part of the ship got stuck and could not move, while the back part was being broken to pieces by the violence of the waves.
42 The soldiers made a plan to kill all the prisoners, in order to keep them from swimming ashore and escaping. 43 But the army officer wanted to save Paul, so he stopped them from doing this. Instead, he ordered everyone who could swim to jump overboard first and swim ashore; 44 the rest were to follow, holding on to the planks or to some broken pieces of the ship. And this was how we all got safely ashore.
Pablo es enviado a Roma
1 Cuando se decidió que debíamos ir por barco a Italia, Pablo y otros prisioneros fueron entregados a un centurión llamado Julio, de la compañía Augusta.
2 Nos embarcaron en una nave de Adramitio que tocaría los puertos de la provincia de Asia. Al zarpar, iba con nosotros Aristarco, un macedonio de Tesalónica.
3 Un día después llegamos a Sidón. Julio trataba a Pablo con mucha deferencia, y le permitía visitar a sus amigos, para que lo atendieran.
4 De allí desplegamos velas, y navegamos a sotavento de Chipre, porque teníamos el viento en contra.
5 Después de cruzar el mar frente a Cilicia y Panfilia, arribamos a Mira, una ciudad de Licia.
6 Allí el centurión dio con una nave alejandrina que zarpaba para Italia, y nos embarcó en ella.
7 Nuestra navegación fue muy lenta durante varios días, y a duras penas llegamos frente a Gnido, porque el fuerte viento nos lo impedía. Navegamos entonces a sotavento de Creta, frente a Salmón.
8 Logramos costear con dificultad, y llegamos a un lugar llamado Buenos Puertos, cerca de la ciudad de Lasea.
9 Pasaron muchos días, incluso el día del Perdón, así que era muy arriesgado continuar con la navegación. Entonces Pablo les hizo una observación.
10 Les dijo: «Amigos, si seguimos navegando, creo que sufriremos perjuicios y pérdidas, no solo del cargamento y de la nave sino también de nosotros.»
11 Pero el centurión no le hizo caso, pues le creía más al piloto y al capitán de la nave que a Pablo.
12 Como el puerto era incómodo para invernar, casi todos acordaron zarpar de allí. Creían poder arribar a Fenice, un puerto de Creta que mira al noroeste y al suroeste, e invernar allí.
La tempestad en el mar
13 Como empezó a soplar una brisa del sur, les pareció que el viento era adecuado; entonces levaron anclas y se fueron siguiendo la costa de Creta.
14 Pero al poco tiempo un viento huracanado, conocido como Euroclidón, dio contra la nave
15 y la arrastró. Como no fue posible poner proa al viento, simplemente nos dejamos llevar por el viento.
16 Luego de deslizarnos a sotavento de la isla llamada Cauda, con muchas dificultades pudimos recoger la lancha salvavidas,
17 la cual fue subida a bordo y atada a la nave. Por temor a quedar varados en la arena, se arriaron las velas y la nave quedó a la deriva.
18 Como éramos azotados por una furiosa tempestad, al siguiente día se comenzó a aligerar la nave de su carga,
19 y al tercer día se arrojaron los aparejos de la nave.
20 Durante muchos días no pudieron verse el sol ni las estrellas, y la fuerte tempestad nos seguía azotando, así que ya habíamos perdido toda esperanza de salvarnos.
21 Como hacía mucho que no comíamos, Pablo se puso de pie y dijo: «Amigos, ustedes debieron haberme hecho caso, y no haber zarpado de Creta. Así se habría evitado este perjuicio y esta pérdida.
22 Pero yo les pido que no pierdan el ánimo, pues ninguno de ustedes perderá la vida. Solamente se perderá la nave.
23 Lo sé porque esta noche ha estado conmigo el ángel del Dios, a quien sirvo y pertenezco,
24 y me ha dicho: “Pablo, no tengas miedo. Es necesario que comparezcas ante el emperador. Dios te ha concedido que todos los que navegan contigo salgan ilesos.”
25 Así que, ¡anímense, amigos míos!, que Dios hará todo tal y como me lo ha dicho.
26 Sin embargo, necesitamos llegar a alguna isla.»
27 Catorce noches después de navegar a la deriva por el mar Adriático, a eso de la medianoche los marineros intuyeron que estaban cerca de tierra,
28 así que echaron la sonda y esta marcaba una profundidad de treinta y seis metros; un poco más adelante volvieron a echarla, y ya marcaba veintisiete.
29 Ante el temor de dar con algunos escollos, se echaron cuatro anclas por la popa, esperando con ansias que amaneciera.
30 Algunos marineros trataron de huir de la nave y, aparentando que querían soltar las anclas de proa, echaron al mar la lancha salvavidas;
31 pero Pablo les dijo al centurión y a los soldados: «Si estos no se quedan en la nave, ustedes no se podrán salvar.»
32 Entonces los soldados cortaron las amarras de la lancha y dejaron que esta se perdiera.
33 Comenzaba a amanecer cuando Pablo los animó a comer. Les dijo: «Ya van catorce días que ustedes están en ayunas y en compás de espera. ¡No han comido nada!
34 Yo les ruego que coman algo para mantenerse sanos. Tengan la seguridad de que no van a perder ni un cabello de su cabeza.»
35 Dicho esto, Pablo tomó el pan y dio gracias a Dios en presencia de todos; luego lo partió y comenzó a comer.
36 Entonces todos se animaron y también comieron.
37 Los que estábamos en la nave éramos un total de doscientas setenta y seis personas.
38 Ya satisfechos, se arrojó el trigo al mar y se aligeró la nave.
El naufragio
39 Al llegar el día, no reconocieron el lugar, pero vieron una ensenada que tenía playa, y acordaron hacer el intento de encallar allí.
40 Soltaron las anclas y las dejaron en el mar; soltaron también las amarras del timón, izaron al viento la vela de proa, y se enfilaron hacia la playa.
41 Como encontraron un lugar de dos corrientes, hicieron encallar la nave; allí la proa quedó inmóvil y enclavada en la arena, pero la violencia del mar hizo pedazos la popa.
42 Entonces los soldados acordaron matar a los presos, para que ninguno tratara de fugarse nadando,
43 pero el centurión quería salvar a Pablo, así que les impidió su intento y ordenó que los que supieran nadar fueran los primeros en echarse al mar para llegar a tierra,
44 y que los demás usaran tablas, o algunos restos de la nave. Fue así como todos pudimos llegar a tierra y salvarnos.