Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
To the Director: A song. Lyrics[a] by David.
A Song of Praise to God
65 In Zion, God, praise silently awaits you,
and vows will be paid to you.
2 Since you hear prayer,
everybody will come to you.
3 My acts of iniquity—they overwhelm me!
Our transgressions—you blot them out!
4 How blessed is the one you choose,
the one you cause to live in your courts.
We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
yes, even with the holiness of your Temple.
5 With awesome deeds of justice[b]
you will answer us, God our Deliverer;
you are[c] the confidence for everyone at the ends of the earth,
even for those far away overseas.
6 The One who established the mountains by his strength
is clothed with omnipotence.
7 He calmed the roar of seas,
the roaring of the waves,
and the turmoil of the peoples.
8 Those living at the furthest ends of the earth[d] are seized by fear because of your miraculous deeds.
You make the going forth of the morning and the evening shout for joy.
9 You take care of the earth,
you water it,
and you enrich it greatly with the river of God that overflows with water.
You provide grain for them,
for you have ordained it this way.
10 You fill the furrows of the field with water
so that their ridges overflow.
You soften them with rain showers;
their sprouts you have blessed.
11 You crown the year with your goodness;
your footsteps drop prosperity behind them.
12 The wilderness pastures drip with dew,[e]
and the hills wrap themselves with joy.
13 The meadows are clothed with flocks of sheep,
and the valleys are covered with grain.
They shout for joy;
yes, they burst out in song!
Water is Turned into Blood
14 Then the Lord told Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hard. He has refused to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he’s going down to the water. Stand on the bank of the Nile River[a] and meet him. Be sure to take with you[b] the staff that was turned into a snake. 16 Then say to him, ‘The Lord God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you. He says, “Let my people go so they may serve[c] me in the desert, but until now you haven’t obeyed.”’[d]
17 “‘This is what the Lord says: “This is how you’ll know that I am the Lord: Right now I’m going to strike the water of the Nile River[e] with the staff that’s in my hand, and it will be turned to blood. 18 The fish in the Nile River[f] will die and the river[g] will stink. The Egyptians will be unable[h] to drink water from the Nile River.[i]”’”
19 The Lord also told Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their Nile River[j], over their ponds, and over their reservoirs,[k] and they’ll become blood. There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in their[l] wood and stone containers.’”[m]
20 Moses and Aaron did just what the Lord had commanded. Aaron[n] raised his staff and struck the water in the Nile River[o] in front of[p] Pharaoh and his[q] officials,[r] and all the water in the Nile River[s] turned to blood. 21 The fish in the Nile River[t] died and the river[u] stank. The Egyptians were not able to drink water from the Nile River,[v] and blood was throughout the land of Egypt. 22 But the Egyptian magicians did the same thing[w] with their secret arts. Pharaoh’s heart was stubborn,[x] and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said. 23 Then Pharaoh turned away, went to his palace, and paid no attention to any of this. 24 All the Egyptians dug around the Nile River[y] for water to drink because they could not drink from the water in the Nile River.[z]
13 When a gentle breeze began to blow from the south, they thought they could make it to Phoenix,[a] so they hoisted anchor and began sailing along the shore of Crete.
14 But it was not long before a violent wind (called a northeaster) swept down from the island.[b] 15 The ship was caught so that it couldn’t face the wind, and we gave up and were swept along. 16 As we drifted to the sheltered side of a small island called Cauda,[c] we barely managed to secure the ship’s lifeboat. 17 The ship’s crew[d] pulled it up on deck and used ropes to brace the ship. Fearing that they would hit the large sandbank near Libya,[e] they lowered the sail and drifted along. 18 The next day, because we were being tossed so violently by the storm, they began to throw the cargo overboard. 19 On the third day they threw the ship’s equipment overboard with their own hands. 20 For a number of days neither the sun nor the stars were to be seen, and the storm continued to rage until at last all hope of our being saved vanished.
21 After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood among his shipmates[f] and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have sailed from Crete. You would have avoided this hardship and damage. 22 But now I urge you to have courage, because there will be no loss of life among you, but only loss[g] of the ship. 23 For just last night an angel of God, to whom I belong and whom I serve, stood by me 24 and said, ‘Stop being afraid, Paul! You must stand before the emperor. Indeed, God has given to you the lives of[h] everyone who is sailing with you.’ 25 So take courage, men, because I trust God that it will turn out just as he told me. 26 However, we will have to run aground on some island.”
The Shipwreck
27 It was the fourteenth night, and we were drifting through the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors suspected that land was near. 28 After taking soundings, they found the depth to be twenty fathoms. A little later, they took soundings again and found it was fifteen fathoms. 29 Fearing that we might run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and began praying for daylight to come. 30 Meanwhile, the sailors had begun trying to escape from the ship. They lowered the lifeboat into the sea and pretended that they were going to lay out the anchors from the bow. 31 Paul told the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain onboard, you cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and set it adrift.
33 Right up to daybreak Paul kept urging all of them to eat something. He said, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been waiting and going without food, not eating anything. 34 So I urge you to eat something, for it will help you survive, since none of you will lose so much as[i] a hair from his head.” 35 After he said this, he took some bread, thanked God in front of everyone, broke it, and began to eat. 36 Everyone was encouraged and had something to eat. 37 There were 276[j] of us on the ship. 38 After they had eaten all they wanted, they began to lighten the ship by dumping its cargo of[k] wheat into the sea.
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