Paul Sails for Rome

¹When 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.”

²We 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.

³The 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.

⁴We went on from there, and because the winds were blowing against us, we sailed on the sheltered side of the island of Cyprus.

⁵We crossed over the sea off Cilicia and Pamphylia and came to Myra in Lycia.

⁶There the officer found a ship from Alexandria that was going to sail for Italy, so he put us aboard.

⁷We 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.

⁸We kept close to the coast and with great difficulty came to a place called Safe Harbors, not far from the town of Lasea.

⁹We 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.”

¹¹But the army officer was convinced by what the captain and the owner of the ship said, and not by what Paul said.

¹²The 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

¹³A 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.

¹⁴But soon a very strong wind—the one called “Northeaster”—blew down from the island.

¹⁵It 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.

¹⁶We 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.

¹⁷They 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.

¹⁸The violent storm continued, so on the next day they began to throw some of the ship's cargo overboard,

¹⁹and on the following day they threw part of the ship's equipment overboard.

²⁰For 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.

²¹After 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.

²²But now I beg you, take courage! Not one of you will lose your life; only the ship will be lost.

²³For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship came to me

²⁴and 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.’

²⁵So take courage, men! For I trust in God that it will be just as I was told.

²⁶But we will be driven ashore on some island.”

²⁷It 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.

²⁸So 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.

²⁹They 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.

³⁰Then 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.

³¹But Paul said to the army officer and soldiers, “If the sailors don't stay on board, you have no hope of being saved.”

³²So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the boat and let it go.

³³Just 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.

³⁴I beg you, then, eat some food; you need it in order to survive. Not even a hair of your heads will be lost.”

³⁵After saying this, Paul took some bread, gave thanks to God before them all, broke it, and began to eat.

³⁶They took courage, and every one of them also ate some food.

³⁷There was a total of 276 of us on board.

³⁸After everyone had eaten enough, they lightened the ship by throwing all the wheat into the sea.

The Shipwreck

³⁹When 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.

⁴⁰So 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.

⁴¹But 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.

⁴²The soldiers made a plan to kill all the prisoners, in order to keep them from swimming ashore and escaping.

⁴³But 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;

⁴⁴the 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.

The Unity of the Body

¹I urge you, then—I who am a prisoner because I serve the Lord: live a life that measures up to the standard God set when he called you.

²Be always humble, gentle, and patient. Show your love by being tolerant with one another.

³Do your best to preserve the unity which the Spirit gives by means of the peace that binds you together.

⁴There is one body and one Spirit, just as there is one hope to which God has called you.

⁵There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism;

⁶there is one God and Father of all people, who is Lord of all, works through all, and is in all.

⁷Each one of us has received a special gift in proportion to what Christ has given.

⁸As the scripture says, “When he went up to the very heights, he took many captives with him; he gave gifts to people.”

⁹Now, what does “he went up” mean? It means that first he came down to the lowest depths of the earth.

¹⁰So the one who came down is the same one who went up, above and beyond the heavens, to fill the whole universe with his presence.

¹¹It was he who “gave gifts to people”; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers.

¹²He did this to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ.

¹³And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ's full stature.

¹⁴Then we shall no longer be children, carried by the waves and blown about by every shifting wind of the teaching of deceitful people, who lead others into error by the tricks they invent.

¹⁵Instead, by speaking the truth in a spirit of love, we must grow up in every way to Christ, who is the head.

¹⁶Under his control all the different parts of the body fit together, and the whole body is held together by every joint with which it is provided. So when each separate part works as it should, the whole body grows and builds itself up through love.

The New Life in Christ

¹⁷In the Lord's name, then, I warn you: do not continue to live like the heathen, whose thoughts are worthless

¹⁸and whose minds are in the dark. They have no part in the life that God gives, for they are completely ignorant and stubborn.

¹⁹They have lost all feeling of shame; they give themselves over to vice and do all sorts of indecent things without restraint.

²⁰That was not what you learned about Christ!

²¹You certainly heard about him, and as his followers you were taught the truth that is in Jesus.

²²So get rid of your old self, which made you live as you used to—the old self that was being destroyed by its deceitful desires.

²³Your hearts and minds must be made completely new,

²⁴and you must put on the new self, which is created in God's likeness and reveals itself in the true life that is upright and holy.

²⁵No more lying, then! Each of you must tell the truth to the other believer, because we are all members together in the body of Christ.

²⁶If you become angry, do not let your anger lead you into sin, and do not stay angry all day.

²⁷Don't give the Devil a chance.

²⁸If you used to rob, you must stop robbing and start working, in order to earn an honest living for yourself and to be able to help the poor.

²⁹Do not use harmful words, but only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what is needed, so that what you say will do good to those who hear you.

³⁰And do not make God's Holy Spirit sad; for the Spirit is God's mark of ownership on you, a guarantee that the Day will come when God will set you free.

³¹Get rid of all bitterness, passion, and anger. No more shouting or insults, no more hateful feelings of any sort.

³²Instead, be kind and tender-hearted to one another, and forgive one another, as God has forgiven you through Christ.

Living in the Light

¹Since you are God's dear children, you must try to be like him.

²Your life must be controlled by love, just as Christ loved us and gave his life for us as a sweet-smelling offering and sacrifice that pleases God.

³Since you are God's people, it is not right that any matters of sexual immorality or indecency or greed should even be mentioned among you.

⁴Nor is it fitting for you to use language which is obscene, profane, or vulgar. Rather you should give thanks to God.

⁵You may be sure that no one who is immoral, indecent, or greedy (for greed is a form of idolatry) will ever receive a share in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.

⁶Do not let anyone deceive you with foolish words; it is because of these very things that God's anger will come upon those who do not obey him.

⁷So have nothing at all to do with such people.

⁸You yourselves used to be in the darkness, but since you have become the Lord's people, you are in the light. So you must live like people who belong to the light,

⁹for it is the light that brings a rich harvest of every kind of goodness, righteousness, and truth.

¹⁰Try to learn what pleases the Lord.

¹¹Have nothing to do with the worthless things that people do, things that belong to the darkness. Instead, bring them out to the light.

¹²(It is really too shameful even to talk about the things they do in secret.)

¹³And when all things are brought out to the light, then their true nature is clearly revealed;

¹⁴for anything that is clearly revealed becomes light. That is why it is said, “Wake up, sleeper, and rise from death, and Christ will shine on you.”

¹⁵So be careful how you live. Don't live like ignorant people, but like wise people.

¹⁶Make good use of every opportunity you have, because these are evil days.

¹⁷Don't be fools, then, but try to find out what the Lord wants you to do.

¹⁸Do not get drunk with wine, which will only ruin you; instead, be filled with the Spirit.

¹⁹Speak to one another with the words of psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing hymns and psalms to the Lord with praise in your hearts.

²⁰In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, always give thanks for everything to God the Father.

Wives and Husbands

²¹Submit yourselves to one another because of your reverence for Christ.

²²Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands as to the Lord.

²³For a husband has authority over his wife just as Christ has authority over the church; and Christ is himself the Savior of the church, his body.

²⁴And so wives must submit themselves completely to their husbands just as the church submits itself to Christ.

²⁵Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave his life for it.

²⁶He did this to dedicate the church to God by his word, after making it clean by washing it in water,

²⁷in order to present the church to himself in all its beauty—pure and faultless, without spot or wrinkle or any other imperfection.

²⁸Men ought to love their wives just as they love their own bodies. A man who loves his wife loves himself.

²⁹(None of us ever hate our own bodies. Instead, we feed them, and take care of them, just as Christ does the church;

³⁰for we are members of his body.)

³¹As the scripture says, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and unite with his wife, and the two will become one.”

³²There is a deep secret truth revealed in this scripture, which I understand as applying to Christ and the church.

³³But it also applies to you: every husband must love his wife as himself, and every wife must respect her husband.

Children and Parents

¹Children, it is your Christian duty to obey your parents, for this is the right thing to do.

²“Respect your father and mother” is the first commandment that has a promise added:

³“so that all may go well with you, and you may live a long time in the land.”

⁴Parents, do not treat your children in such a way as to make them angry. Instead, raise them with Christian discipline and instruction.

Slaves and Masters

⁵Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling; and do it with a sincere heart, as though you were serving Christ.

⁶Do this not only when they are watching you, because you want to gain their approval; but with all your heart do what God wants, as slaves of Christ.

⁷Do your work as slaves cheerfully, as though you served the Lord, and not merely human beings.

⁸Remember that the Lord will reward each of us, whether slave or free, for the good work we do.

⁹Masters, behave in the same way toward your slaves and stop using threats. Remember that you and your slaves belong to the same Master in heaven, who judges everyone by the same standard.

The Whole Armor of God

¹⁰Finally, build up your strength in union with the Lord and by means of his mighty power.

¹¹Put on all the armor that God gives you, so that you will be able to stand up against the Devil's evil tricks.

¹²For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age.

¹³So put on God's armor now! Then when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist the enemy's attacks; and after fighting to the end, you will still hold your ground.

¹⁴So stand ready, with truth as a belt tight around your waist, with righteousness as your breastplate,

¹⁵and as your shoes the readiness to announce the Good News of peace.

¹⁶At all times carry faith as a shield; for with it you will be able to put out all the burning arrows shot by the Evil One.

¹⁷And accept salvation as a helmet, and the word of God as the sword which the Spirit gives you.

¹⁸Do all this in prayer, asking for God's help. Pray on every occasion, as the Spirit leads. For this reason keep alert and never give up; pray always for all God's people.

¹⁹And pray also for me, that God will give me a message when I am ready to speak, so that I may speak boldly and make known the gospel's secret.

²⁰For the sake of this gospel I am an ambassador, though now I am in prison. Pray that I may be bold in speaking about the gospel as I should.

Final Greetings

²¹Tychicus, our dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord's work, will give you all the news about me, so that you may know how I am getting along.

²²That is why I am sending him to you—to tell you how all of us are getting along and to encourage you.

²³May God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give to all Christians peace and love with faith.

²⁴May God's grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with undying love.

²²People with quick tempers cause a lot of quarreling and trouble.

²³Arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.

²⁴A thief's partner is his own worst enemy. He will be punished if he tells the truth in court, and God will curse him if he doesn't.