Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 65[a]
Thanksgiving for Divine Blessings
1 For the director.[b] A psalm of David. A song.
2 It is fitting to offer praise to you,[c]
O God, in Zion.
To you our vows must be fulfilled,
3 for you answer our prayers.
To you all flesh must come,[d]
4 burdened by its sinful deeds.
Too heavy for us are our sins,
and only you can blot them out.[e]
5 Blessed[f] is the one whom you choose
and invite to dwell in your courts.
We will be filled with the good things of your house,
of your holy temple.
6 Through your awesome deeds[g] of righteousness,
you respond to us, O God, our Savior;
you are the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the far-off islands.
7 Clothed in your great power,
you hold the mountains in place.[h]
8 You quiet the roaring of the seas,
the turbulence of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.[i]
9 Those who dwell at the ends of the earth
are awestruck by your wonders.[j]
You call forth songs of joy
from sunrise and sunset.
10 You care for the earth and water it,
making it most fertile.
The streams of God[k] are filled with water
to provide grain for its people.
Thus, you prepare the earth for growth:
11 you water its furrows
and level its ridges;
you soften it with showers
and bless its yield.[l]
12 You crown the year with your bounty,[m]
and your tracks dispense fertility.
13 The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
and the hills are covered with rejoicing.
14 The meadows are clothed with flocks,
and the valleys are decked out with grain;
in their joy they shout and sing together.[n]
14 First Plague: Water Turned into Blood.[a] The Lord said to Moses, “The heart of Pharaoh is hardened. He refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning when he goes out to the water and stand in front of him on the Nile riverbank and take the staff in your hand that was changed into a serpent. 16 Then you will tell him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you, ‘Let my people go so that they can serve me in the desert. Up to now you have not obeyed.’ 17 The Lord says, ‘By this you will know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will strike the waters of the Nile with the staff that I have in my hand, and they will change into blood. 18 The fish in the Nile will die, and the Nile will become putrid so that the Egyptians will not be able to drink from the Nile.” ’ ”
19 The Lord said to Moses, “Command Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, their ponds, and over all their supplies of water. They will turn into blood and there will be blood in all of the land of Egypt, even in their wood and stone jars.’ ”
20 Moses and Aaron did what the Lord had commanded. Aaron raised his staff and struck the waters of the Nile in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants. All the waters of the Nile changed into blood. 21 The fish in the Nile died, and the Nile became putrid, so that the Egyptians could not drink the water. There was blood in the entire land of Egypt. 22 But the magicians of Egypt, with their magic, did the same thing. The heart of Pharaoh was hardened and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.[b] 23 Pharaoh turned his back on them and went into his house and did not even pay attention to these things. 24 All the Egyptians dug along the Nile to find water to drink because they could not drink the water in the Nile.
13 When a gentle southerly breeze began to blow, they thought that they would be able to achieve their objective. They weighed anchor and began to sail past Crete, hugging the shore. 14 But before long a violent wind, called a northeaster, swept down on them. 15 Since the ship was caught up in it, we had to give way to the wind and let ourselves be driven along.
16 As we passed along the sheltered side of a small island called Cauda,[a] we managed with some difficulty to secure the ship’s lifeboat. 17 After hoisting it up, they used cables to undergird the ship. Then, afraid of running aground on the shallows of Syrtis,[b] they lowered the sea anchor and so let themselves drift.
18 We were being pounded so violently by the storm that on the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. 19 Then on the third day, they threw the ship’s gear overboard with their own hands. 20 For many days, neither the sun nor the stars could be seen, and the storm continued to rage until we finally abandoned all hope of being saved.
21 When they all had gone without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete. Then you would have avoided all this damage and loss. 22 I urge you now to keep up your courage. There will be no loss of life among you. Only the ship will be lost.
23 “Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve appeared to me, 24 and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You shall appear before Caesar. Furthermore, for your sake God has granted safety to all those who are sailing with you.’ 25 Therefore, men, keep up your courage. I have complete trust in God that what he told me will be fulfilled. 26 But we will run aground on some island.”
27 On the fourteenth night, we were still drifting across the Adriatic Sea.[c] About midnight, the sailors began to suspect that they were nearing land, 28 so they took soundings and found that the water was twenty feet deep. A little farther on they again took soundings and found fifteen feet.
29 Fearing that we might run aground on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight to come. 30 The sailors then tried to abandon ship. They had already lowered the lifeboat into the sea, on the pretext that they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. 31 But Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay[d] with the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut the ropes of the lifeboat and set it adrift.
33 Just before daybreak, Paul urged all of them to take some food, saying, “This is the fourteenth day that you have been in suspense, going hungry and eating nothing. 34 Therefore, I beg you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose even a hair of his head.”
35 After he had said this, he took bread, gave thanks to God in front of them all, broke it, and began to eat. 36 Then they were all encouraged and began to eat. 37 Altogether, there were two hundred and seventy-six persons on board. 38 After they had eaten as much as they wanted they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.
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