Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, “Unless these stay in the ship, you can’t be saved.”
Parallel translations
- KJV Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.
- BSB But Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain with the ship, you cannot be saved.”
- NKJV Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.”
- NASB Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain on the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved.”
- NLT But Paul said to the commanding officer and the soldiers, “You will all die unless the sailors stay aboard.”
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 warns the centurion that unless the sailors stay aboard, no one can be saved.
Overview
Though God had promised all would survive, Paul insists the sailors must remain, teaching that God's certain ends are reached through appointed means. Divine sovereignty does not cancel human responsibility but works through it. Paul's spiritual discernment again guides the company, and his counsel safeguards the very deliverance God had pledged.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- 2 Th 2:13–14But we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth;
- Jer 29:11–13For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says Yahweh, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.
- Ps 91:11–12For he will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you in all your ways.
- Acts 27:21–24When they had been long without food, Paul stood up in the middle of them, and said, “Sirs, you should have listened to me, and not have set sail from Crete, and have gotten this injury and loss.
- Acts 27:42–43The soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim out and escape.
- John 6:37All those whom the Father gives me will come to me. He who comes to me I will in no way throw out.
- Luke 4:9–12He led him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here,
- Ezek 36:36–37Then the nations that are left around you shall know that I, Yahweh, have built the ruined places, and planted that which was desolate: I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and I will do it.
- Acts 27:11But the centurion gave more heed to the master and to the owner of the ship than to those things which were spoken by Paul.
- Luke 1:34–35Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, seeing I am a virgin?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 27:31 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.