29. The sailors were afraid that we would hit the rocks, so they threw four anchors into the water. Then they prayed for daylight to come.
30. Some of the sailors wanted to leave the ship, and they lowered the lifeboat to the water. They wanted the other men to think that they were throwing more anchors from the front of the ship.
31. But Paul told the army officer and the other soldiers, “If these men do not stay in the ship, you will lose all hope of survival.”
32. So the soldiers cut the ropes and let the lifeboat fall into the water.
33. Just before dawn Paul began persuading all the people to eat something. He said, “For the past two weeks you have been waiting and watching. You have not eaten for 14 days.
34. Now I beg you to eat something. You need it to stay alive. None of you will lose even one hair off your heads.”
35. After he said this, Paul took some bread and thanked God for it before all of them. He broke off a piece and began eating.
36. All the men felt better and started eating too.
37. (There were 276 people on the ship.)
38. We ate all we wanted. Then we began making the ship lighter by throwing the grain into the sea.
39. When daylight came, the sailors saw land, but they did not know what land it was. They saw a bay with a beach and wanted to sail the ship to the beach if they could.
40. So they cut the ropes to the anchors and left the anchors in the sea. At the same time, they untied the ropes that were holding the rudders. Then they raised the front sail into the wind and sailed toward the beach.
41. But the ship hit a sandbank. The front of the ship stuck there and could not move. Then the big waves began to break the back of the ship to pieces.