One of these was Damascus, where I was on my way with authority and a commission from the high priests when in the middle of the day on the road I saw, О King, a light surpassing the brightness of the sun which flashed about me and my fellow travelers. And as all of us fell to the gronnd I heard a voice saying to me in Hebrew: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads. And I said: Who are you, Lord? And the Lord said: I am Jesus, whom you persecute. But rise up and stand on your feet; since it was for this that I appeared to you, to choose you as my minister and my witness to the things which you have seen and to the times I shall be seen by you; choosing you out of my people and the Gentiles, to whom I shall send you, so as to open their eyes, to t^ra them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God; for them to receive remission of sins and a share among those who have been sanctified by their belief in me.
Therefore, King Agrippa, I have not disobeyed the heavenly vision, but to those in Damascus first and Jerusalem, to the whole land of Judaea, and to the Gentiles I have preached repentance and turning to God and the doing of acts to match their repentance. For these reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. But having been given the help of God until this day, I stand here and testify to great and small, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said must be going to happen, that the Christ must suffer, that after the resurrection of the dead he will be the first to proclaim the light to his people and to the nations.
When he made this defense, Festus said in a great voice: Paul, you are mad. Too many books are driving you mad. But Paul said: No, I am not mad, most mighty Festus; my words are those of truth and good sense. The King, to whom I speak openly, knows about these matters; I think there is not one thing that has escaped him, for it was not done in a corner. Do you, King Agrippa, believe in the prophets? I know that you believe. Agrippa said to Pauclass="underline" Soon you will persuade me to become a Christian. Paul said: Late or soon, I would pray to God that not only you but all who listen to me today would become like me—except for these chains.
Then the King and the governor and Bernice and those who had sat with them got up, and talked with each other as they went out, saying: This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment. And Agrippa said to Festus: This man could have gone free, if he had not appealed to Caesar.
When it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they turned Paul and some other prisoners over to a centurion named Julius, from the Augustan cohort. We went aboard a ship of Adr^yttium which was to sail to places in Asia, and put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us. On the next day we put in at Sidon, and Julius, who treated Paul humanely, allowed him to visit his friends and receive some kindnesses from them. Then putting out from there, we sailed nnder the lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us, and crossing the open sea by Cilicia and Pam- phylia we came to Myra in Lycia. There the centurion fonnd an Alexandrian ship bound for Italy and put us aboard it. Then, sailing slowly for a number of days and barely getting to Cnidus, when the wind would let us go no farther, we sailed under the lee of Crete, by Salmone, and barely managed to coast along until we came to a place called Fair Haven, with the city of Laseia near by.
Since a good deal of time had been spent and sailing was now dangerous, with the Day of Atonement already past, Paul advised them, saying: I can see, gentlemen, that our sailing will be stormy, with much damage not only to the cargo and the ship but to our own lives. But the centurion trusted the steersman and the captain more than Paul's advice. Since the harbor was unsuitable for wintering. most were in favor of leaving there and, if they could somehow make Phoenix, a harbor of Crete which looks both northwest and southwest, they would spend the winter there. And with the south wind blowing gently they thought they had achieved their purpose and put out and coasted along Crete. But not much later the hurricane wind which is called the northeaster struck from the land, and the ship was caught up in it and could not face the wind, so we gave in to it and were swept along. Then, ^^ing under shelter of a little island named Cauda, we were barely able to recover the lifeboat, which they hoisted aboard, and then undergirded the ship with cables; and then, fearing that they might be driven on to the shoals of Syrtis, they let down the sea anchor and so were carried along. But we were battered by the storm, aid on the second day they began to jettison, and on the third they threw the ship's gear overboard with their own hands. But when neither sun nor stars could be seen for a number of days, and we were being beset by a great storm, all hope that we would survive was finally lost.
And there had been no eating for a long time. Then Paul stood in their midst and said: You should, gentlemen, have paid attention to me and not put out from Crete and so got yourselves this battering and damage. But now I advise you to be of good courage, for there will be no loss of life from among you, only of the ship. For last night the angel of God, to whom I belong, whom I serve, stood by me and said: Have no fear, Paul. You must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you the lives of all who sail with you. Therefore be of good courage, gentlemen; for I believe in God and that it will be as he has told me. But we must be driven upon some island.
And when it was our fourteenth day of being adrift on the Adriatic, in the middle of the night the sailors thought that some land was near. And they took soundings and found twenty fathom, and after a little interval they took soundings again and found fifteen; and fearing that we might be driven on rugged shores they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to break. But when the sailors tried to abandon the ship and were lowering the lifeboat into the sea, pretending that they were going to set out anchors from the prow, Paul said to the centurion and the solders: Unless these men stay on the ship, you cannot be saved. Then the soldiers cut the ropes on the lifeboat and let it drop.
Now Paul urged everyone to take some food before the coming dawn, saying: This is the fourteenth day that you have gone without food in your anxiety, tasting nothing; therefore I urge you to take some food, since this has to do with your safety. For not one hair from any of your heads shall be lost. And so saying, he took a loaf and gave thanks to God before them all and broke it and began to eat. Then all became cheerful and they also took some food. We were seventy-six souls in all on the ship. When they had eaten their fill they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.
When day came, they did not recognize the land, but they could see a bay, with a beach where they planned to get the ship safely ashore, if they could. So they cast off the anchors and let them go, and at the same time loosening the bands on the rudders and hoisting the foresail they went before the wind toward the shore. But they struck upon a shoal surrounded by water and ran the ship aground, and the prow stuck and remained fixed, but the stern began to break up in the surf. There was a plan among the soldiers to kill the prisoners, to keep any from swimming away and escaping; but the centurion wished to keep Paul alive and prevented them from that purpose; and he ordered those who could swim to plunge in first and get to shore, and the rest to use boards or anything else from the ship. And so it came about that all got safe to shore.
1 After our escape we le^ed that the island is called Malta. And the natives showed us no ordinary kindness, for they lit a fire and brought us all to it, because of the rain which had set in and the cold. And Paul had gathered a load of brushwood and laid it on the fire when a viper came out to escape the heat and fastened on his hand. And when the natives saw the creature dangling from his hand they said to each other: This man is surely a murderer; he was saved from the sea but justice would not let him live. But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no hurt; while they waited for him to begin to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But when they waited a long time and saw nothing extraordinary happening to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.