Am I a watchman? by Gary Rose

  

In my youth, I owned some “less than perfect” cars, well to be honest, some wrecks. Some held together by band-iron (for the rear springs) and one even with shoe laces (for the carburetor), but nothing this bad. The car in the picture looks like it can barely move, yet alone be driven safely.

Believe it or not, to me this car is not really the focal point of the picture; The woman is. I know that this may sound a little strange to you at first, but consider; she may be the last person to see this man alive. After all, driving this car COULD KILL HIM. Imagine if something DID HAPPEN TO HIM, how would she feel when she found out? That would depend on whether or not she warned him or not, wouldn’t it?

Recently, while reading the book of Ezekiel, I came across a passage which I think applies both to the woman in the picture and to us as well. The Bible says…

Ezekiel 33 ( World English Bible )

1 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,

2 Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and tell them, When I bring the sword on a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman;

3 if, when he sees the sword come on the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;

4 then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and doesn’t take warning, if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be on his own head.

5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and didn’t take warning; his blood shall be on him; whereas if he had taken warning, he would have delivered his soul.

6 But if the watchman sees the sword come, and doesn’t blow the trumpet, and the people aren’t warned, and the sword comes, and take any person from among them; he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.

7 So you, son of man, I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.

8 When I tell the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely die, and you don’t speak to warn the wicked from his way; that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at your hand.

9 Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he doesn’t turn from his way; he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.

What has this passage to do with us? Plenty, for Christians have been entrusted with The Gospel, which can lead a person to eternal life. If we don’t share this truth (somehow, someway) as we have opportunity- who will? In a way, we are like that “watchman” of old, Ezekiel. The question is: will we warn people of their spiritual fate if they don’t seek God and obey his will?

A car wreck is nothing when compared with eternal damnation for unforgiven sin, so share The Truth of The Gospel; perhaps some people will obey God and enjoy fellowship with HIM, FOREVER!

Today, ask yourself this question: Am I a “watchman” or not?

Bible Reading for August 17 and 18 by Gary Rose

 

Bible Reading for August 17 and 18

World  English  Bible

 

Aug. 17

Job 5-8

Job 5:1 "Call now; is there any who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?

Job 5:2 For resentment kills the foolish man, and jealousy kills the simple.

Job 5:3 I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation.

Job 5:4 His children are far from safety. They are crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them,

Job 5:5 whose harvest the hungry eats up, and take it even out of the thorns. The snare gapes for their substance.

Job 5:6 For affliction doesn't come forth from the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the ground;

Job 5:7 but man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

Job 5:8 "But as for me, I would seek God. I would commit my cause to God,

Job 5:9 who does great things that can't be fathomed, marvelous things without number;

Job 5:10 who gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on the fields;

Job 5:11 so that he sets up on high those who are low, those who mourn are exalted to safety.

Job 5:12 He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands can't perform their enterprise.

Job 5:13 He takes the wise in their own craftiness; the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.

Job 5:14 They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope at noonday as in the night.

Job 5:15 But he saves from the sword of their mouth, even the needy from the hand of the mighty.

Job 5:16 So the poor has hope, and injustice shuts her mouth.

Job 5:17 "Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.

Job 5:18 For he wounds, and binds up. He injures, and his hands make whole.

Job 5:19 He will deliver you in six troubles; yes, in seven there shall no evil touch you.

Job 5:20 In famine he will redeem you from death; in war, from the power of the sword.

Job 5:21 You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes.

Job 5:22 At destruction and famine you shall laugh, neither shall you be afraid of the animals of the earth.

Job 5:23 For you shall be in league with the stones of the field. The animals of the field shall be at peace with you.

Job 5:24 You shall know that your tent is in peace. You shall visit your fold, and shall miss nothing.

Job 5:25 You shall know also that your seed shall be great, Your offspring as the grass of the earth.

Job 5:26 You shall come to your grave in a full age, like a shock of grain comes in its season.

Job 5:27 Look this, we have searched it, so it is. Hear it, and know it for your good."

Job 6:1 Then Job answered,

Job 6:2 "Oh that my anguish were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances!

Job 6:3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas, therefore have my words been rash.

Job 6:4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.

Job 6:5 Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass? Or does the ox low over his fodder?

Job 6:6 Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

Job 6:7 My soul refuses to touch them. They are as loathsome food to me.

Job 6:8 "Oh that I might have my request, that God would grant the thing that I long for,

Job 6:9 even that it would please God to crush me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!

Job 6:10 Be it still my consolation, yes, let me exult in pain that doesn't spare, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

Job 6:11 What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should be patient?

Job 6:12 Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of brass?

Job 6:13 Isn't it that I have no help in me, That wisdom is driven quite from me?

Job 6:14 "To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

Job 6:15 My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away;

Job 6:16 Which are black by reason of the ice, in which the snow hides itself.

Job 6:17 In the dry season, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

Job 6:18 The caravans that travel beside them turn aside. They go up into the waste, and perish.

Job 6:19 The caravans of Tema looked. The companies of Sheba waited for them.

Job 6:20 They were distressed because they were confident. They came there, and were confounded.

Job 6:21 For now you are nothing. You see a terror, and are afraid.

Job 6:22 Did I say, 'Give to me?' or, 'Offer a present for me from your substance?'

Job 6:23 or, 'Deliver me from the adversary's hand?' or, 'Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?'

Job 6:24 "Teach me, and I will hold my peace. Cause me to understand wherein I have erred.

Job 6:25 How forcible are words of uprightness! But your reproof, what does it reprove?

Job 6:26 Do you intend to reprove words, seeing that the speeches of one who is desperate are as wind?

Job 6:27 Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless, and make merchandise of your friend.

Job 6:28 Now therefore be pleased to look at me, for surely I shall not lie to your face.

Job 6:29 Please return. Let there be no injustice. Yes, return again. My cause is righteous.

Job 6:30 Is there injustice on my tongue? Can't my taste discern mischievous things?

Job 7:1 "Isn't a man forced to labor on earth? Aren't his days like the days of a hired hand?

Job 7:2 As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow, as a hireling who looks for his wages,

Job 7:3 so am I made to possess months of misery, wearisome nights are appointed to me.

Job 7:4 When I lie down, I say, 'When shall I arise, and the night be gone?' I toss and turn until the dawning of the day.

Job 7:5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust. My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh.

Job 7:6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.

Job 7:7 Oh remember that my life is a breath. My eye shall no more see good.

Job 7:8 The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more. Your eyes shall be on me, but I shall not be.

Job 7:9 As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol shall come up no more.

Job 7:10 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.

Job 7:11 "Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

Job 7:12 Am I a sea, or a sea monster, that you put a guard over me?

Job 7:13 When I say, 'My bed shall comfort me. My couch shall ease my complaint;'

Job 7:14 then you scare me with dreams, and terrify me through visions:

Job 7:15 so that my soul chooses strangling, death rather than my bones.

Job 7:16 I loathe my life. I don't want to live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.

Job 7:17 What is man, that you should magnify him, that you should set your mind on him,

Job 7:18 that you should visit him every morning, and test him every moment?

Job 7:19 How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle?

Job 7:20 If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why have you set me as a mark for you, so that I am a burden to myself?

Job 7:21 Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust. You will seek me diligently, but I shall not be."

Job 8:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,

Job 8:2 "How long will you speak these things? Shall the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?

Job 8:3 Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?

Job 8:4 If your children have sinned against him, He has delivered them into the hand of their disobedience.

Job 8:5 If you want to seek God diligently, make your supplication to the Almighty.

Job 8:6 If you were pure and upright, surely now he would awaken for you, and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous.

Job 8:7 Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would greatly increase.

Job 8:8 "Please inquire of past generations. Find out about the learning of their fathers.

Job 8:9 (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.)

Job 8:10 Shall they not teach you, tell you, and utter words out of their heart?

Job 8:11 "Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes grow without water?

Job 8:12 While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down, it withers before any other reed.

Job 8:13 So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless man shall perish,

Job 8:14 Whose confidence shall break apart, Whose trust is a spider's web.

Job 8:15 He shall lean on his house, but it shall not stand. He shall cling to it, but it shall not endure.

Job 8:16 He is green before the sun. His shoots go forth over his garden.

Job 8:17 His roots are wrapped around the rock pile. He sees the place of stones.

Job 8:18 If he is destroyed from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, 'I have not seen you.'

Job 8:19 Behold, this is the joy of his way: out of the earth, others shall spring.

Job 8:20 "Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man, neither will he uphold the evildoers.

Job 8:21 He will still fill your mouth with laughter, your lips with shouting.

Job 8:22 Those who hate you shall be clothed with shame. The tent of the wicked shall be no more."

Aug. 18

Job 9-12

Job 9:1 Then Job answered,

Job 9:2 "Truly I know that it is so, but how can man be just with God?

Job 9:3 If he is pleased to contend with him, he can't answer him one time in a thousand.

Job 9:4 God who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him, and prospered?

Job 9:5 He removes the mountains, and they don't know it, when he overturns them in his anger.

Job 9:6 He shakes the earth out of its place. Its pillars tremble.

Job 9:7 He commands the sun, and it doesn't rise, and seals up the stars.

Job 9:8 He alone stretches out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea.

Job 9:9 He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.

Job 9:10 He does great things past finding out; yes, marvelous things without number.

Job 9:11 Behold, he goes by me, and I don't see him. He passes on also, but I don't perceive him.

Job 9:12 Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will ask him, 'What are you doing?'

Job 9:13 "God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.

Job 9:14 How much less shall I answer him, And choose my words to argue with him?

Job 9:15 Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn't answer him. I would make supplication to my judge.

Job 9:16 If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I wouldn't believe that he listened to my voice.

Job 9:17 For he breaks me with a storm, and multiplies my wounds without cause.

Job 9:18 He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness.

Job 9:19 If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty! If of justice, 'Who,' says he, 'will summon me?'

Job 9:20 Though I am righteous, my own mouth shall condemn me. Though I am blameless, it shall prove me perverse.

Job 9:21 I am blameless. I don't regard myself. I despise my life.

Job 9:22 "It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked.

Job 9:23 If the scourge kills suddenly, he will mock at the trial of the innocent.

Job 9:24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If not he, then who is it?

Job 9:25 "Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away, they see no good,

Job 9:26 They have passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that swoops on the prey.

Job 9:27 If I say, 'I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and cheer up;'

Job 9:28 I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that you will not hold me innocent.

Job 9:29 I shall be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain?

Job 9:30 If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye,

Job 9:31 yet you will plunge me in the ditch. My own clothes shall abhor me.

Job 9:32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment.

Job 9:33 There is no umpire between us, that might lay his hand on us both.

Job 9:34 Let him take his rod away from me. Let his terror not make me afraid;

Job 9:35 then I would speak, and not fear him, for I am not so in myself.

Job 10:1 "My soul is weary of my life. I will give free course to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

Job 10:2 I will tell God, 'Do not condemn me. Show me why you contend with me.

Job 10:3 Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and smile on the counsel of the wicked?

Job 10:4 Do you have eyes of flesh? Or do you see as man sees?

Job 10:5 Are your days as the days of mortals, or your years as man's years,

Job 10:6 that you inquire after my iniquity, and search after my sin?

Job 10:7 Although you know that I am not wicked, there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.

Job 10:8 " 'Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether, yet you destroy me.

Job 10:9 Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again?

Job 10:10 Haven't you poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese?

Job 10:11 You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.

Job 10:12 You have granted me life and loving kindness. Your visitation has preserved my spirit.

Job 10:13 Yet you hid these things in your heart. I know that this is with you:

Job 10:14 if I sin, then you mark me. You will not acquit me from my iniquity.

Job 10:15 If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still shall not lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious of my affliction.

Job 10:16 If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion. Again you show yourself powerful to me.

Job 10:17 You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your indignation on me. Changes and warfare are with me.

Job 10:18 " 'Why, then, have you brought me forth out of the womb? I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me.

Job 10:19 I should have been as though I had not been. I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

Job 10:20 Aren't my days few? Cease then. Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort,

Job 10:21 before I go where I shall not return from, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;

Job 10:22 the land dark as midnight, of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is as midnight.' "

Job 11:1 Then Zophar, the Naamathite, answered,

Job 11:2 "Shouldn't the multitude of words be answered? Should a man full of talk be justified?

Job 11:3 Should your boastings make men hold their peace? When you mock, shall no man make you ashamed?

Job 11:4 For you say, 'My doctrine is pure. I am clean in your eyes.'

Job 11:5 But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against you,

Job 11:6 that he would show you the secrets of wisdom! For true wisdom has two sides. Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves.

Job 11:7 "Can you fathom the mystery of God? Or can you probe the limits of the Almighty?

Job 11:8 They are high as heaven. What can you do? They are deeper than Sheol. What can you know?

Job 11:9 Its measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.

Job 11:10 If he passes by, or confines, or convenes a court, then who can oppose him?

Job 11:11 For he knows false men. He sees iniquity also, even though he doesn't consider it.

Job 11:12 An empty-headed man becomes wise when a man is born as a wild donkey's colt.

Job 11:13 "If you set your heart aright, stretch out your hands toward him.

Job 11:14 If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away. Don't let unrighteousness dwell in your tents.

Job 11:15 Surely then you shall lift up your face without spot; Yes, you shall be steadfast, and shall not fear:

Job 11:16 for you shall forget your misery. You shall remember it as waters that are passed away.

Job 11:17 Life shall be clearer than the noonday. Though there is darkness, it shall be as the morning.

Job 11:18 You shall be secure, because there is hope. Yes, you shall search, and shall take your rest in safety.

Job 11:19 Also you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. Yes, many shall court your favor.

Job 11:20 But the eyes of the wicked shall fail. They shall have no way to flee. Their hope shall be the giving up of the spirit."

Job 12:1 Then Job answered,

Job 12:2 "No doubt, but you are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.

Job 12:3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Yes, who doesn't know such things as these?

Job 12:4 I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor, I, who called on God, and he answered. The just, the blameless man is a joke.

Job 12:5 In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune. It is ready for them whose foot slips.

Job 12:6 The tents of robbers prosper. Those who provoke God are secure, who carry their God in their hands.

Job 12:7 "But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you; the birds of the sky, and they shall tell you.

Job 12:8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you. The fish of the sea shall declare to you.

Job 12:9 Who doesn't know that in all these, the hand of Yahweh has done this,

Job 12:10 in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?

Job 12:11 Doesn't the ear try words, even as the palate tastes its food?

Job 12:12 With aged men is wisdom, in length of days understanding.

Job 12:13 "With God is wisdom and might. He has counsel and understanding.

Job 12:14 Behold, he breaks down, and it can't be built again. He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.

Job 12:15 Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up. Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.

Job 12:16 With him is strength and wisdom. The deceived and the deceiver are his.

Job 12:17 He leads counselors away stripped. He makes judges fools.

Job 12:18 He loosens the bond of kings. He binds their waist with a belt.

Job 12:19 He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty.

Job 12:20 He removes the speech of those who are trusted, and takes away the understanding of the elders.

Job 12:21 He pours contempt on princes, and loosens the belt of the strong.

Job 12:22 He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death.

Job 12:23 He increases the nations, and he destroys them. He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.

Job 12:24 He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.

Job 12:25 They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger like a drunken man.

 

Aug. 17, 18

Acts 27

Act 27:1 When it was determined that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, of the Augustan band.

Act 27:2 Embarking in a ship of Adramyttium, which was about to sail to places on the coast of Asia, we put to sea; Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us.

Act 27:3 The next day, we touched at Sidon. Julius treated Paul kindly, and gave him permission to go to his friends and refresh himself.

Act 27:4 Putting to sea from there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.

Act 27:5 When we had sailed across the sea which is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia.

Act 27:6 There the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy, and he put us on board.

Act 27:7 When we had sailed slowly many days, and had come with difficulty opposite Cnidus, the wind not allowing us further, we sailed under the lee of Crete, opposite Salmone.

Act 27:8 With difficulty sailing along it we came to a certain place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.

Act 27:9 When much time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, because the Fast had now already gone by, Paul admonished them,

Act 27:10 and said to them, "Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives."

Act 27:11 But the centurion gave more heed to the master and to the owner of the ship than to those things which were spoken by Paul.

Act 27:12 Because the haven was not suitable to winter in, the majority advised going to sea from there, if by any means they could reach Phoenix, and winter there, which is a port of Crete, looking northeast and southeast.

Act 27:13 When the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to shore.

Act 27:14 But before long, a stormy wind beat down from shore, which is called Euroclydon.

Act 27:15 When the ship was caught, and couldn't face the wind, we gave way to it, and were driven along.

Act 27:16 Running under the lee of a small island called Clauda, we were able, with difficulty, to secure the boat.

Act 27:17 After they had hoisted it up, they used cables to help reinforce the ship. Fearing that they would run aground on the Syrtis sand bars, they lowered the sea anchor, and so were driven along.

Act 27:18 As we labored exceedingly with the storm, the next day they began to throw things overboard.

Act 27:19 On the third day, they threw out the ship's tackle with their own hands.

Act 27:20 When neither sun nor stars shone on us for many days, and no small storm pressed on us, all hope that we would be saved was now taken away.

Act 27:21 When 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.

Act 27:22 Now I exhort you to cheer up, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.

Act 27:23 For there stood by me this night an angel, belonging to the God whose I am and whom I serve,

Act 27:24 saying, 'Don't be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar. Behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.'

Act 27:25 Therefore, sirs, cheer up! For I believe God, that it will be just as it has been spoken to me.

Act 27:26 But we must run aground on a certain island."

Act 27:27 But when the fourteenth night had come, as we were driven back and forth in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors surmised that they were drawing near to some land.

Act 27:28 They took soundings, and found twenty fathoms. After a little while, they took soundings again, and found fifteen fathoms.

Act 27:29 Fearing that we would run aground on rocky ground, they let go four anchors from the stern, and wished for daylight.

Act 27:30 As the sailors were trying to flee out of the ship, and had lowered the boat into the sea, pretending that they would lay out anchors from the bow,

Act 27:31 Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, "Unless these stay in the ship, you can't be saved."

Act 27:32 Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the boat, and let it fall off.

Act 27:33 While the day was coming on, Paul begged them all to take some food, saying, "This day is the fourteenth day that you wait and continue fasting, having taken nothing.

Act 27:34 Therefore I beg you to take some food, for this is for your safety; for not a hair will perish from any of your heads."

Act 27:35 When he had said this, and had taken bread, he gave thanks to God in the presence of all, and he broke it, and began to eat.

Act 27:36 Then they all cheered up, and they also took food.

Act 27:37 In all, we were two hundred seventy-six souls on the ship.

Act 27:38 When they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea.

Act 27:39 When it was day, they didn't recognize the land, but they noticed a certain bay with a beach, and they decided to try to drive the ship onto it.

Act 27:40 Casting off the anchors, they left them in the sea, at the same time untying the rudder ropes. Hoisting up the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach.

Act 27:41 But coming to a place where two seas met, they ran the vessel aground. The bow struck and remained immovable, but the stern began to break up by the violence of the waves.

Act 27:42 The soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim out and escape.

Act 27:43 But the centurion, desiring to save Paul, stopped them from their purpose, and commanded that those who could swim should throw themselves overboard first to go toward the land;

Act 27:44 and the rest should follow, some on planks, and some on other things from the ship. So it happened that they all escaped safely to the land.