Voyage to Rome and shipwreck on Malta
Sailing late in the season, Paul's ship was caught by a violent northeast wind and driven for two weeks before running aground on Malta. All 276 people aboard reached land safely, as God had promised Paul. In the spring they sailed on to Italy.
saying, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar. Behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ Therefore, sirs, cheer up! For I believe God, that it will be just as it has been spoken to me.
Acts 27:24–25 (World English Bible)
Paul had warned against leaving Crete after the Day of Atonement, when sailing became dangerous. In the storm he told the despairing crew that an angel had assured him none would be lost. On Malta a viper fastened on his hand without harming him, and he healed the father of Publius, the island's chief man. Believers came out along the Appian Way to meet him, and Paul thanked God and took courage (Acts 28:15).
Places
SidonAsiaRomeCyprusCreteCiliciaPamphyliaItalyFair HavensAdriatic SeaCaudaCnidusForum of AppiusLaseaLyciaMaltaMyraPhoenixPuteoliRhegiumSalmoneSyracuseThree Taverns
Dating notes
The voyage began after “the Fast” (Acts 27:9), the Day of Atonement in the autumn, about AD 59; Paul reached Rome in the spring of about AD 60. Ussher: autumn AD 62, reaching Rome in AD 63. Dates for Paul's journeys follow the conventional chronology, anchored by an inscription at Delphi, found in 1905, that dates Gallio's term as proconsul of Achaia (Acts 18:12) to AD 51–52; Ussher, who could not have known it, runs two to three years later.