Take courage! may in some languages be expressed negatively—for example, “do not lose your hearts” or “do not become weak in your thinking.”

Not one of you will lose his life is literally “there will be no loss of souls from among you,” with “soul” used once again in the sense of “life” (see comments on v. 10). The closest equivalent in some languages is “no one of you will die.” In speaking of the destruction of the ship, however, one often cannot say “will be lost.” This would appear as though the ship “had lost its way.” A more precise equivalent would be “only the ship will be destroyed” or “but the ship will be completely destroyed.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .