And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat.
And when he had thus spoken, he took bread - `a loaf,' assuming the lead,
And gave thanks to God in presence of [them] all - an impressive act in such circumstances, fitted to plant a testimony for the God he served in the breasts of all,
He began to eat. This would certainly not be regarded by the Christians in the ship in the light either of a celebration of the Lord's Supper or of a love-feast-as some strangely imagine-but purely as a meal to recruit exhausted nature, which Paul shows them, by his own example, how a Christian partakes of.