7 [27:33]And when day was about to appear, Paul exhorted all to take food, saying, It is the fourteenth day to-day that you have watched and continued without food, taking nothing. [27:34]Wherefore I exhort you to partake of food; for this is necessary to your safety, for there shall not a hair perish from the head of any one of you. [27:35]And having said these things, and taken bread, he thanked God before all, and having broken began to eat. [27:36]And all being in good spirits they also partook of food; [27:37]and all the souls in the ship were two hundred and seventy-six. [27:38]And being satisfied with food they lightened the ship, casting the wheat into the sea. 8 [27:39]And when it was day they did not know the land, but they perceived a bay having a shore, on which they wished if possible to thrust the ship. [27:40] And taking up the anchors, they committed [the ship] to the sea, loosening at the same time the fastenings of the rudder and raising the top sail to the wind, they bore down towards the shore. [27:41]And falling on a place with a sea on both sides, they run the ship aground. And the bow being firmly fixed, remained immoveable; and the stern was broken by violence. 9 [27:42]And the design of the soldiers was to kill the prisoners, that none might escape by swimming; [27:43]but the centurion wishing to save Paul, prohibited them from this design, and commanded those able to swim to cast themselves into the water first, and go to the land; [27:44]and the rest, some on boards, and some on parts of the ship; and in this way all were brought safely to land. 10 [28:1]And when they were saved, they learned that the island was called Melita. [28:2]And the barbarians showed us no ordinary humanity; for kindling a fire they received us all, on account of the rain which was falling, and the cold. [28:3]And Paul having collected a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper coming out from the heat fastened on his hand. [28:4]And when the barbarians saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said one to another, This man is undoubtedly a murderer, whom though saved from the sea justice has not permitted to live. [28:5]Then shaking off the creature into the fire he suffered no harm; [28:6]but they expected that he would swell up, or suddenly fall down dead. And waiting a long time, and seeing nothing extraordinary happen to him, they thought differently, and said, He is a god. 11 [28:7]Near that place were the lands of the first man in the island, whose name was Poplius, who received and entertained us kindly three days. [28:8]And the father of Poplius lay sick with a fever and dysentery, and Paul came to him, and prayed, and put his hands on him, and cured him. [28:9]And this being done, the rest also who had sicknesses in the island came and were cured, [28:10]and they bestowed on us many rewards, and when we left supplied us with things that we needed.