⁸ So I alone ^(A)remained and saw this great vision that appeared; yet ^(B)no might remained in me, for my outward splendor turned to ^[a]a deathly pallor, and I retained no might. ⁹ But I heard the sound of his words; and as soon as I heard the sound of his words, I ^(C)fell into a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground.

Daniel Is Strengthened

¹⁰ Then behold, a hand ^(D)touched me and set me shaking on my ^[b]hands and knees. ¹¹ And he said to me, “O ^(E)Daniel, man of ^[c]high esteem, ^(F)understand the words that I am about to speak to you and ^(G)stand ^[d]upright, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up ^(H)trembling. ¹² Then he said to me, “^(I)Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you gave your heart to understand this and to ^(J)humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response ^(K)to your words. ¹³ But the ^[e]prince of the kingdom of Persia was ^[f]standing against me for twenty-one days; then behold, ^(L)Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me. Now I had been left there with the kings of Persia. ¹⁴ Now I have come to ^(M)give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the ^[g](N)last days, for the vision pertains to ^(O)the days yet future.” ¹⁵ Now when he had spoken to me according to these words, I ^[h]turned my face toward the ground and became ^(P)speechless.

¹⁶ And behold, ^(Q)one ^[i]in the likeness of the sons of men was ^(R)touching my lips; then I opened my mouth and spoke and said to him who was standing before me, “O my lord, as a result of the vision that appeared, ^(S)pains have come upon me, and I have retained no might. ¹⁷ Now ^(T)how can such a servant of my lord talk with such as my lord? As for me, right now ^(U)no might stands within me, nor does any breath remain within me.”

¹⁸ Then this one with the appearance of a man touched me again and ^(V)strengthened me. ¹⁹ And he said, “O man of ^[j]high esteem, ^(W)do not be afraid. Peace ^[k]be with you; gather ^(X)strength and be strong!” Now as soon as he spoke to me, I received strength and said, “May my lord speak, for you have ^(Y)strengthened me.”

¹¹ And ^(A)an angel of the ^[a]Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. ¹² And Zechariah was troubled when he saw the angel, and ^(B)fear fell upon him. ¹³ But the angel said to him, “^(C)Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will ^[b]bear you a son, and ^(D)you will call his name ^[c]John.

Isaac Is Born

21 ^(A)Now Yahweh visited Sarah as He had said, and Yahweh did for Sarah as He had ^[a]promised. ^2 (B)So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at ^(C)the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. ³ And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, ^(D)Isaac. ⁴ Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was ^(E)eight days old, as God had commanded him. ⁵ Now Abraham was ^(F)one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶ And Sarah said, “God has made ^(G)laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh ^[b]with me.” ⁷ And she said, “^(H)Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Sarah Sends Hagar Away

⁸ And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. ⁹ And Sarah saw ^(I)the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, ^[c](J)laughing in jest. ¹⁰ Therefore she said to Abraham, “^(K)Drive out this maidservant and her son! The son of this maidservant shall not be an heir with my son, with Isaac.” ^11 (L)And the matter ^[d]distressed Abraham greatly because of his son. ¹² So God said to Abraham, “^[e]Do not be distressed because of the boy and your maidservant; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her voice, for ^(M)through Isaac your seed shall be named. ¹³ And of ^(N)the son of the maidservant I will make a nation also, because he is your seed.” ¹⁴ So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a ^[f]skin of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the child, and sent her away. So she went and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.

¹⁵ When the water in the skin was finished, she ^[g]put the child under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “Do not let me ^[h]see when the child dies.” And she sat opposite him and ^(O)lifted up her voice and wept. ¹⁷ Then God ^(P)heard the voice of the boy crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? ^(Q)Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. ¹⁸ Arise, lift up the boy, and hold him by ^[i]the hand, ^(R)for I will make a great nation of him.” ¹⁹ Then God ^(S)opened her eyes, and she saw ^(T)a well of water; and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

^20 (U)And God was with the boy, and he grew; and he ^[j]lived in the wilderness and was an archer. ^21 (V)And he ^[k]lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Jesus Is Born in Bethlehem

2 Now it happened that in those days a decree went out from ^(A)Caesar Augustus for a census to be taken of ^(B)all ^[a]the inhabited earth. ^2 [b]This was the first census taken while ^[c]Quirinius was governor of ^(C)Syria. ³ And everyone was going to be registered for the census, each to his own city. ⁴ And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because ^(D)he was of the house and family of David, ⁵ in order to register along with Mary, who was betrothed to him, and was with child. ⁶ Now it happened that while they were there, the days were fulfilled for her to give birth. ⁷ And she ^(E)gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a ^[d]manger, because there was no place for them in the ^[e]guest room.

⁸ In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And ^(F)an angel of the ^[f]Lord ^(G)stood before them, and the glory of the ^[g]Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “^(H)Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people. ¹¹ For today in the city of David there has been born for you a ^(I)Savior, who is ^[h](J)Christ ^(K)the Lord. ^12 (L)And this will be the sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a ^[i]manger.”

Jesus Is Risen!

28 ^(A)Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, ^(B)Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. ² And behold, there was a great earthquake, for ^(C)an angel of the ^[a]Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away ^(D)the stone and sat upon it. ³ And ^(E)his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. ⁴ And the guards quaked from fear of him and became like dead men. ⁵ And the angel answered and said to the women, “^[b](F)Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. ⁶ He is not here, for He has risen, ^(G)just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. ⁷ And go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you ^(H)into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.”

⁸ And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. ⁹ And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus *said to them, “^[c](I)Do not be afraid; go and report to ^(J)My brothers to leave ^(K)for Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

Paul Is Sent to Rome

27 Now when it was decided that ^(A)we ^(B)would sail for ^(C)Italy, they proceeded to deliver Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan ^[a](D)cohort named Julius. ² And getting aboard an Adramyttian ship, which was about to sail to the regions along the coast of ^[b](E)Asia, we set sail accompanied by ^(F)Aristarchus, a ^(G)Macedonian of ^(H)Thessalonica. ³ The next day we put in at ^(I)Sidon, and Julius ^(J)treated Paul with consideration and ^(K)allowed him to go to his friends and receive care. ⁴ And from there we set sail and sailed under the shelter of ^(L)Cyprus because ^(M)the winds were against us. ⁵ And when we had sailed through the sea along the coast of ^(N)Cilicia and ^(O)Pamphylia, we landed at Myra in Lycia. ⁶ There the centurion found an ^(P)Alexandrian ship sailing for ^(Q)Italy, and he put us aboard it. ⁷ And when we had sailed slowly for a good many days, and with difficulty had arrived off Cnidus, ^(R)since the wind did not permit us to go farther, we sailed under the shelter of ^(S)Crete, off Salmone; ⁸ and with difficulty, we ^(T)sailed past it and came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea.

⁹ And when considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, since even ^(U)the ^[c]Fast was already over, Paul began to advise them, ¹⁰ and said to them, “Men, I perceive that the voyage will certainly be with ^(V)damage and great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” ¹¹ But the centurion was being more persuaded by the ^(W)pilot and the ^[d]captain of the ship than by what was being said by Paul. ¹² And because the harbor was not suitable for wintering, the majority reached a decision to set sail from there, if somehow they could arrive at Phoenix, a harbor of ^(X)Crete facing southwest and northwest, to spend the winter there.

¹³ And when a moderate ^[e]south wind came up, thinking that they had attained their purpose, they weighed anchor and began ^(Y)sailing along ^[f]the shore of ^(Z)Crete.

The Storm at Sea

¹⁴ But before very long there ^(AA)rushed down from ^[g]the land a violent wind, called ^[h]Euraquilo; ¹⁵ and when the ship was caught in it and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and let ourselves be carried along. ¹⁶ And running under the shelter of a small island called Clauda, we were scarcely able to get the ship’s ^[i]boat under control. ¹⁷ After they had hoisted it up, they used ^[j]supporting cables in undergirding the ship. Fearing that they might ^(AB)run aground on the shallows of Syrtis, they let down the ^[k]sea anchor and in this way let themselves be carried along. ¹⁸ And the next day as we were being violently storm-tossed, ^[l]they began to ^(AC)jettison the cargo; ¹⁹ and on the third day they cast the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. ²⁰ And since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm was assailing us, from then on all hope of our being saved was gradually abandoned.

²¹ And ^[m]when they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up in their midst and said, “^(AD)Men, you ought to have ^[n]followed my advice to not set sail from ^(AE)Crete and to ^[o]avoid this ^(AF)damage and loss. ²² And now I advise you to ^(AG)be cheerful, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. ²³ For this very night ^(AH)an angel of the God to whom I belong and ^(AI)whom I serve ^(AJ)stood before me, ²⁴ saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; ^(AK)you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you ^(AL)all those who are sailing with you.’ ²⁵ Therefore, ^(AM)be cheerful, men, for I believe God that ^[p]it will turn out exactly as I have been told. ²⁶ But we must ^(AN)run aground on some ^(AO)island.”