An Oracle Concerning Cush

^7 (J)At that time tribute will be brought to the Lord of hosts

to ^(L)Mount Zion, the place of the ^(M)name of the Lord of hosts.

An Oracle Concerning Egypt

19 An ^(N)oracle concerning ^(O)Egypt.

Egypt, Assyria, Israel Blessed

¹⁶ In that day the Egyptians will be ^(AI)like women, and ^(AJ)tremble with fear before the hand that the Lord of hosts shakes over them. ¹⁷ And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose that the Lord of hosts has purposed against them.

^18 (AK)In that day there will be ^(AL)five cities in the land of Egypt that ^(AM)speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One of these will be called the City of Destruction.^[c]

¹⁹ In that day there will be an ^(AN)altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a ^(AO)pillar to the Lord at its border. ^20 (AP)It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, ^(AQ)he will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them. ^21 (AR)And the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day ^(AS)and worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them. ^22 (AT)And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them.

^23 (AU)In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, ^(AV)and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.

²⁴ In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, ^(AW)a blessing in the midst of the earth, ²⁵ whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt ^(AX)my people, and Assyria ^(AY)the work of my hands, and ^(AZ)Israel my inheritance.”

A Sign Against Egypt and Cush

20 In the year that ^(BA)the commander in chief, who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to ^(BB)Ashdod and fought against it and captured it— ² at that time the Lord spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loose the sackcloth from your waist and take off your sandals from your feet,” and he did so, walking ^(BC)naked and barefoot.

³ Then the Lord said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years ^(BD)as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush,^{[d] 4} so shall the ^(BE)king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt. ^5 (BF)Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast. ⁶ And the inhabitants of ^(BG)this coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and ^(BH)to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?’”

Fallen, Fallen Is Babylon

21 The ^(BI)oracle concerning the wilderness of ^(BJ)the sea.

¹¹ The ^(BY)oracle concerning ^(BZ)Dumah.

¹³ The ^(CD)oracle concerning ^(CE)Arabia.

¹⁶ For thus the Lord said to me, “Within a year, ^(CJ)according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of ^(CK)Kedar will come to an end. ¹⁷ And the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of ^(CL)Kedar will be few, ^(CM)for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.”

An Oracle Concerning Jerusalem

22 The ^(CN)oracle concerning ^(CO)the valley of vision.

In that day you looked to ^(DB)the weapons of the House of the Forest, ⁹ and you saw that ^(DC)the breaches of the city of David were many. ^(DD)You collected the waters of the lower pool, ¹⁰ and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. ^11 (DE)You made a reservoir between ^(DF)the two walls for the water of ^(DG)the old pool. But ^(DH)you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.

¹⁵ Thus says the Lord God of hosts, “Come, go to this steward, to ^(DP)Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him: ¹⁶ What have you to do here, and whom have you here, ^(DQ)that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you ^(DR)who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock? ¹⁷ Behold, the Lord will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. ^(DS)He will seize firm hold on you ¹⁸ and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be ^(DT)your glorious chariots, you shame of your master's house. ^19 (DU)I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station. ²⁰ In that day I will call my servant ^(DV)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, ²¹ and ^(DW)I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be ^(DX)a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. ²² And I will place ^(DY)on his shoulder ^(DZ)the key of the house of David. ^(EA)He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. ²³ And I will fasten him ^(EB)like a peg in a secure place, and he will become ^(EC)a throne of honor to his father's house. ²⁴ And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father's house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. ²⁵ In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, ^(ED)the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken.”

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.