But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because you will not experience any loss of life, but only of the ship.
Parallel translations
- WEB Now I exhort you to cheer up, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.
- KJV And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship.
- NKJV And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.
- NASB And yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.
- NLT But take courage! None of you will lose your lives, even though the ship will go down.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul exhorts them to take heart, for no life will be lost—only the ship.
Overview
Paul brings a word of comfort grounded not in optimism but in divine revelation. Though the vessel will be lost, every person will survive. This assurance shifts the mood from despair to hope, demonstrating that God's servant is the bearer of good news even in the midst of disaster.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Acts 27:36They were all encouraged and took some food themselves.
- Acts 27:25So take courage, men, for I believe God that it will happen just as He told me.
- Isa 43:1–2Now this is what the LORD says—He who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine!
- 2 Cor 4:8–9We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
- Acts 27:34So for your own preservation, I urge you to eat something, because not a single hair of your head will be lost.”
- Ps 112:7He does not fear bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
- 1 Sam 30:6And David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of every man grieved for his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.
- Acts 27:44The rest were to follow on planks and various parts of the ship. In this way everyone was brought safely to land.
- Acts 23:11The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so also you must testify in Rome.”
- Job 2:4“Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give up all he owns in exchange for his life.
- 2 Cor 1:4–6who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
- Job 22:29–30When men are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then He will save the lowly.
- Acts 27:31But Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain with the ship, you cannot be saved.”
- Ezra 10:2Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, an Elamite, said to Ezra: “We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the people of the land, yet in spite of this, there is hope for Israel.
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Christ at the center
Acts is the risen Christ continuing his work by the Spirit through the church, as the apostles preach that there is salvation in no other name under heaven.
How Acts 27:22 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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