Book of Common Prayer
9 Quite a bit of time had now elapsed, and sailing was becoming dangerous. The Fast had already come and gone. Paul gave his advice.
10 “Men,” he said, “I can see we’re going to have trouble on this voyage. It’s going to be dangerous. We may well sustain heavy losses both to the cargo and to the ship, not to mention to human life.”
11 But the centurion put his faith in the helmsman and the ship-owner rather than in what Paul had said. 12 Unfortunately, the harbor was not suitable for wintering, so most people were in favor of going on from there to see if they could get to Phoenix, a Cretan harbor which faces both south-west and north-west. They would then be able to spend the winter there.
The storm and the angel
13 Well, a moderate southerly breeze sprang up, and they thought they had the result they wanted. So they lifted the anchor and sailed along, hugging the shore of Crete. 14 But before long a great typhoon—they call it “Eurakylon,” the Northeaster—swept down from Crete, 15 and the ship was caught up by it. Since the ship couldn’t turn and face into the wind, it had to give way and we were carried along.
16 When we came in behind an island called Cauda, we were just able to get the ship’s boat under control. 17 They pulled it up, and did what was necessary to undergird the ship. Then, because they were afraid that we would crash into the Syrtis sandbanks, they lowered the sea-anchor and allowed the ship to be driven along. 18 The storm was so severe that on the next day they began to throw cargo overboard, 19 and on the third day they threw the ship’s tackle overboard as well, with their own hands. 20 We then went for a good many days without seeing either the sun or the stars, with a major storm raging. All hope of safety was finally abandoned.
21 We had gone without food a long time. Then Paul stood up in the middle of them all.
“It does seem to me, my good people,” he said, “that you should have taken my advice not to leave Crete. We could have managed without this damage and loss. 22 But now I want to tell you: take heart! No lives will be lost—only the ship. 23 This last night, you see, an angel of the God to whom I belong, and whom I worship, stood beside me. 24 ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul,’ he said. ‘You must appear before Caesar, and let me tell you this: God has granted you all your traveling companions.’ 25 So take heart, my friends. I believe God, that it will be as he said to me. 26 We must, however, be cast up on some island or other.”
The Twelve sent out and the feeding of the five thousand
9 Jesus called together the Twelve, and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. 2 He sent them out to announce God’s kingdom and cure the sick.
3 “Don’t take anything for the journey,” he said to them, “no stick, no bag, no bread, no money, no second cloak. 4 Whenever you go into a house, stay there and leave from there. 5 If anyone won’t receive you, go out of that town and wipe the dust off your feet as evidence against them.”
6 So off they went, and traveled through the villages, announcing the good news and healing people everywhere.
7 Herod the Tetrarch heard what was going on, and was very puzzled. Some people were saying that John had been raised from the dead. 8 Others were saying that Elijah had appeared; still others, that one of the old prophets had arisen.
9 “I beheaded John,” said Herod, “but I keep hearing all these things about this other fellow. Who is he?” And he tried to get to see him.
10 The apostles returned and told Jesus what they had done. He took them off and went away privately to a town called Bethsaida. 11 When the crowds discovered, they followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and he healed those who needed it.
12 As the day wore on, the Twelve came to Jesus.
“Send the crowd away,” they said, “so that they can go into the villages and countryside nearby, find somewhere to stay, and get something to eat. We’re in quite a lonely spot here.”
13 “You give them something to eat,” he replied.
“All we’ve got here,” they said, “is five loaves and a couple of fishes—unless you mean we should go ourselves and buy food for all these people?” 14 (There were about five thousand men.)
“Get them to sit down,” Jesus said to them, “in groups of around fifty each.”
15 They did so, and everyone sat down. 16 Then Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish. He looked up to heaven, blessed the food, divided it, and gave it to the disciples to pass around the crowd. 17 Everyone ate, and was satisfied. They took up twelve baskets of broken bits left over.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.