Psalm 65^[a]

For the director of music. A psalm of David. A song.

The Plague of Blood

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding;^(A) he refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river.^(B) Confront him on the bank of the Nile,^(C) and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. ¹⁶ Then say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship^(D) me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened.^{(E) 17} This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord:^(F) With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood.^{(G) 18} The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink;^(H) the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.’”^(I)

¹⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff^(J) and stretch out your hand^(K) over the waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs—and they will turn to blood.’ Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels^[a] of wood and stone.”

²⁰ Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded.^(L) He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile,^(M) and all the water was changed into blood.^{(N) 21} The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.

²² But the Egyptian magicians^(O) did the same things by their secret arts,^(P) and Pharaoh’s heart^(Q) became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said. ²³ Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart. ²⁴ And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water^(R), because they could not drink the water of the river.

The Storm

¹³ When a gentle south wind began to blow, they saw their opportunity; so they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. ¹⁴ Before very long, a wind of hurricane force,^(A) called the Northeaster, swept down from the island. ¹⁵ The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along. ¹⁶ As we passed to the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were hardly able to make the lifeboat^(B) secure, ¹⁷ so the men hoisted it aboard. Then they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together. Because they were afraid they would run aground^(C) on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor^[a] and let the ship be driven along. ¹⁸ We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard.^{(D) 19} On the third day, they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. ²⁰ When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.

²¹ After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: “Men, you should have taken my advice^(E) not to sail from Crete;^(F) then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. ²² But now I urge you to keep up your courage,^(G) because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. ²³ Last night an angel^(H) of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve^(I) stood beside me^{(J) 24} and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar;^(K) and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’^{(L) 25} So keep up your courage,^(M) men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.^{(N) 26} Nevertheless, we must run aground^(O) on some island.”^(P)

The Shipwreck

²⁷ On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic^[b] Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land. ²⁸ They took soundings and found that the water was a hundred and twenty feet^[c] deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet^[d] deep. ²⁹ Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight. ³⁰ In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat^(Q) down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. ³¹ Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.”^{(R) 32} So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it drift away.

³³ Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. “For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything. ³⁴ Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.”^{(S) 35} After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it^(T) and began to eat. ³⁶ They were all encouraged^(U) and ate some food themselves. ³⁷ Altogether there were 276 of us on board. ³⁸ When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.^(V)