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22. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer," of good courage;" for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship:

23. For there stood by me this night an angel of God," of the God," whose I am and whom I serve,

24. Saying, Fear not, Paul. Thou must be brought before Cæsar, and lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.

Paul had, probably, prayed for their lives; and God was graciously pleased to comply with his request.

25.

Wherefore, sirs, be of good courage; for I believe God, "I trust in God," that it shall be even as it was told me.

26. Howbeit, or, (6 moreover," we must be cast on a certain island.

27. But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria, about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country.

The Adriatic sea was not limited by the ancients to the gulph which now bears that name, but included the Ionian, which lay without the gulph, and in which this ship was now tossed by the tempest.

28. And sounded, and found it twenty fathoms; and when they had gone a little further they sounded again, and found it fifteen fathoms.

29. Then, fearing lest we should have fallen," lest we should fall," upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day.

30. And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the boat into the sea, under colour as though they would have cast anchors out of the fore-ship, or what is usually called the forecastle;

31. Paul said unto the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship ye cannot be saved.

Without the assistance of the sailors, the ship would naturally be unmanageable, and incapable of being conducted toward the shore.

32. Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat and let her fall off, in order to prevent the intended escape.

33. And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried, and continued fasting, having taken nothing.

These words cannot be understood literally, as if the crew had been absolutely without food for so long a period; for then they must have perished by famine; but they had taken nothing comparatively, having been reduced, probably, to short allowance. For although the ship might be a corn vessel, and we read afterwards of wheat being thrown into the sea, it is probable that the greater part of it had been disposed of in that way before, and that this was no more than what was thought absolutely necessary for supplying their wants till they came to land.

34. Wherefore I pray you to take some meat; for this is for your health, "for this concerns your safety;" for there shall not a hair fall from the head of any of you.

A proverbial expression, signifying that they should

be safe.

35. And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all, and when he had broken it he began to

eat.

36. Then were they all of good cheer," then were they all encouraged," and they also took some meat.

They seem now to have believed Paul, in respect to the assurances which he gave them that their lives should be preserved.

37. And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls.

38. And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea.

39. And when it was day, they knew not the land; but they discovered a certain creek, "a bay," with a shore, into the which they were minded, "they resolved," if it were possible, to thrust in the ship.

40. And when they had taken up the anchors, they committed themselves unto the sea, rather, "cutting away the anchors they left them in the sea," and loosed the rudder-bands, and hoisted up the mainsail to the wind, and made toward shore.

The rudders of this ship, (for the ancients made use of two,) had probably been fastened with chains, while the vessel was driven before the wind, but were now loosed to direct its course.

41. And falling into a place where two seas met, i. e. a point of land washed on either side by the sea, they ran the ship aground, and the forepart stuck fast and remained unmoveable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves.

42. And the soldiers' counsel was

to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out and escape.

An inhuman and barbarous proposal, but sufficiently agreeable to the manners of the times.

43. But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose; and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land:

44. And the rest, some on boards; and some on broken pieces of the ship; and so it came to pass that they escaped all safe to land.

REFLECTIONS.

1. In this chapter we have a striking picture of those distresses and dangers to which many individuals are exposed, who trust their safety to the unstable winds and waves: but if we experience these distresses ourselves, or hear of them from others, or of something more calamitous than what is here recorded, let us not arraign the wisdom or goodness of the Divine Being, for exposing his children to them, by assigning so large a portion of the globe to the watery element; for it is by this element that the deficiencies of one country are supplied from the abundance of another, and the miseries of famine averted. It is by this that we have easy access to

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