Elisha and the Shunammite Woman

⁸ One day Elisha went on to ^(A)Shunem, where a ^(B)wealthy woman lived, who urged him to eat some food. So whenever he passed that way, he would turn in there to eat food. ⁹ And she said to her husband, “Behold now, I know that this is a holy ^(C)man of God who is continually passing our way. ¹⁰ Let us make a small room on the roof with walls and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there.”

¹¹ One day he came there, and he turned into the chamber and rested there. ¹² And he said to ^(D)Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite.” When he had called her, she stood before him. ¹³ And he said to him, “Say now to her, ‘See, you have taken all this trouble for us; what is to be done for you? Would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king or to ^(E)the commander of the army?’” She answered, “I dwell among my own people.” ¹⁴ And he said, “What then is to be done for her?” Gehazi answered, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is old.” ¹⁵ He said, “Call her.” And when he had called her, she stood in the doorway. ¹⁶ And he said, “At this season, ^(F)about this time next year, you shall embrace a son.” And she said, “No, my lord, ^(G)O man of God; ^(H)do not lie to your servant.” ¹⁷ But the woman conceived, and she bore a son about that time ^(I)the following spring, as Elisha had said to her.

Elisha Raises the Shunammite's Son

¹⁸ When the child had grown, he went out one day to his father among the reapers. ¹⁹ And he said to his father, “Oh, ^(J)my head, my head!” The father said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.” ²⁰ And when he had lifted him and brought him to his mother, the child sat on her lap till noon, and then he died. ²¹ And she went up ^(K)and laid him on the bed of the ^(L)man of God and shut the door behind him and went out. ²² Then she called to her husband and said, “Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may quickly go to ^(M)the man of God and come back again.” ²³ And he said, “Why will you go to him today? It is neither ^(N)new moon nor Sabbath.” She said, “All is well.” ²⁴ Then she saddled the donkey, and she said to her servant, “Urge the animal on; do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you.” ²⁵ So she set out and came to the man of God ^(O)at Mount Carmel.

When the man of God saw her coming, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Look, there is the Shunammite. ²⁶ Run at once to meet her and say to her, ‘Is all well with you? Is all well with your husband? Is all well with the child?’” And she answered, “All is well.” ²⁷ And when she came ^(P)to the mountain to the man of God, she caught hold of his feet. And Gehazi came to push her away. But the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for she is in bitter distress, and the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me.” ²⁸ Then she said, “Did I ask my lord for a son? ^(Q)Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me?’” ²⁹ He said to Gehazi, ^(R)“Tie up your garment and ^(S)take my staff in your hand and go. If you meet anyone, ^(T)do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not reply. And ^(U)lay my staff on the face of the child.” ³⁰ Then the mother of the child said, ^(V)“As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So he arose and followed her. ³¹ Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was no sound or sign of life. Therefore he returned to meet him and told him, “The child ^(W)has not awakened.”

³² When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed. ³³ So he went in and ^(X)shut the door behind the two of them ^(Y)and prayed to the Lord. ³⁴ Then he went up and lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. And as ^(Z)he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm. ³⁵ Then he got up again and walked once back and forth in the house, and went up ^(AA)and stretched himself upon him. The child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. ³⁶ Then he summoned Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her. And when she came to him, he said, “Pick up your son.” ³⁷ She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground. ^(AB)Then she picked up her son and went out.

The Rich Young Man

^17 (A)And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and ^(B)knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to ^(C)inherit eternal life?” ¹⁸ And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ^(D)‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” ²⁰ And he said to him, “Teacher, ^(E)all these I have kept from my youth.” ²¹ And Jesus, ^(F)looking at him, ^(G)loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, ^(H)sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have ^(I)treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ^22 (J)Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

²³ And Jesus ^(K)looked around and said to his disciples, ^(L)“How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter ^(M)the kingdom of God!” ²⁴ And the disciples ^(N)were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, ^(O)“Children, ^(P)how difficult it is^[a] to enter ^(Q)the kingdom of God! ²⁵ It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter ^(R)the kingdom of God.” ²⁶ And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him,^[b] “Then who can be saved?” ²⁷ Jesus ^(S)looked at them and said, ^(T)“With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” ²⁸ Peter began to say to him, “See, ^(U)we have left everything and followed you.” ²⁹ Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, ^(V)there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and ^(W)for the gospel, ³⁰ who will not receive a hundredfold ^(X)now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, ^(Y)with persecutions, and in ^(Z)the age to come eternal life. ³¹ But ^(AA)many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Paul Sails for Rome

27 And when it was decided ^(A)that ^(B)we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan ^(C)Cohort named Julius. ² And embarking in a ship of Adramyttium, which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, we put to sea, accompanied by ^(D)Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. ³ The next day we put in at Sidon. And ^(E)Julius ^(F)treated Paul kindly and ^(G)gave him leave to go to his friends and be cared for. ⁴ And putting out to sea from there we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us. ⁵ And when we had sailed across the open sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia. ⁶ There the centurion found ^(H)a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy and put us on board. ⁷ We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, and as the wind did not allow us to go farther, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone. ⁸ Coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea.

⁹ Since much time had passed, and the voyage was now dangerous because even ^(I)the Fast^[a] was already over, Paul advised them, ¹⁰ saying, “Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with ^(J)injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” ¹¹ But the centurion paid more attention to ^(K)the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. ¹² And because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there, on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, facing both southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.

The Storm at Sea

¹³ Now when the south wind blew gently, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to the shore. ¹⁴ But soon a tempestuous wind, called the northeaster, ^(L)struck down from the land. ¹⁵ And when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along. ¹⁶ Running under the lee of a small island called Cauda,^[b] we managed with difficulty to secure the ship's boat. ¹⁷ After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship. Then, fearing that they would ^(M)run aground on the Syrtis, they lowered the gear,^[c] and thus they were driven along. ¹⁸ Since we were violently storm-tossed, they began the next day ^(N)to jettison the cargo. ¹⁹ And 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 no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.

²¹ Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, ^(O)you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this ^(P)injury and loss. ²² Yet now I urge you to ^(Q)take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. ²³ For this very night ^(R)there ^(S)stood before me ^(T)an angel of the God ^(U)to whom I belong and ^(V)whom I worship, ²⁴ and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; ^(W)you must stand before Caesar. And behold, ^(X)God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ ²⁵ So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. ²⁶ But ^(Y)we must ^(Z)run aground on some island.”

²⁷ When the fourteenth night had come, as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. ²⁸ So they took a sounding and found twenty fathoms.^[d] A little farther on they took a sounding again and found fifteen fathoms.^{[e] 29} And fearing that we might ^(AA)run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. ³⁰ And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and had lowered ^(AB)the ship's boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, ³¹ Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” ³² Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat and let it go.

³³ As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. ³⁴ Therefore I urge you to take some food. For it will give you strength,^[f] for ^(AC)not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you.” ³⁵ And when he had said these things, he took bread, and ^(AD)giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat. ³⁶ Then they all ^(AE)were encouraged and ate some food themselves. ³⁷ (We were in all 276^{[g] (AF)}persons in the ship.) ³⁸ And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, ^(AG)throwing out the wheat into the sea.

The Shipwreck

³⁹ Now when it was day, ^(AH)they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, on which they planned if possible to run the ship ashore. ⁴⁰ So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the ropes that tied the rudders. Then hoisting the foresail to the wind they made for the beach. ⁴¹ But striking a reef,^{[h] (AI)}they ran the vessel aground. The bow stuck and remained immovable, and the stern was being broken up by the surf. ^42 (AJ)The soldiers' plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any should swim away and escape. ⁴³ But the centurion, ^(AK)wishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land, ⁴⁴ and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship. And so it was that ^(AL)all were brought safely to land.