Acts 27:21

And when they had been long without food, then Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have set sail from Crete, and have gotten this injury and loss. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer; for there shall be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For there stood by me this night an angel of the God whose I am, whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must stand before Caesar: and lo, God hath granted thee all them that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even so as it hath been spoken unto me. But we must be cast upon a certain island.

There are a number of similarities in this narrative to what is said in Jonah. In that storm, the sailors threw the ship's wares overboard (Jonah 1:5), and Jonah confessed that he feared God (Jonah 1:9).

Paul's mention of what he had predicted was not in a spiteful attitude of "I told you so," but was for the purpose of inducing a more ready belief of what he was then about to say.

See under Acts 26:16 for other visions of Paul. Here it was reaffirmed by the Lord's angel that Paul would stand before Caesar; and the message of cheer which Paul here delivered was significant, not as his opinion, but as a clear word from the Almighty. The whole episode was calculated to inspire faith in Paul's word among the ship's passengers and crew.

Lo, God hath granted thee all them that sail with thee ... reveals that Paul had been praying for the lives of all on board, and not merely for himself alone, and that God had answered his prayers by granting that the entire company should not lose their lives. This is a truly magnificent glimpse of the character and spiritual life of the great apostle.

We shall be cast upon a certain island ... This meant they would not be cast upon the coast of Africa.

Before leaving this record of Paul's reassurance of those aboard the ship of Alexandria, it should be noted that many times wicked people are benefited marvelously by the mere fact of being in the company of the righteous. The sailors of this ship were selfish, and the soldiers cruel, but their lives were saved because of Paul. Likewise the prisoners would most certainly have been slaughtered except for the centurion's desire to spare Paul.