Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

God’s Favor to Earth and Man

65 All will be quiet before You, and praise belongs to You, O God, in Zion. And our promise to You will be kept. ² O You Who hears prayer, to You all men come. ³ My sins are strong against me. But You forgive our sins. ⁴ Happy is the man You choose and bring near to You to live in Your holy place. We will be filled with the good things of Your house, Your holy house.

⁵ O God Who saves us, You answer us in the way that is right and good by Your great works that make people stand in fear. You are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas. ⁶ You have built the mountains by Your strength. You are dressed with power. ⁷ You quiet the storm of the seas, the sound of their waves, and the noise of the people. ⁸ Those who live far away are afraid of Your great works. You make morning and evening call out for joy.

⁹ You visit the earth and water it. You make it very rich. The river of God is full of water. You give the people grain when You have made the earth ready. ¹⁰ You water where the plow has been used. You cover the seeds with earth. You make it soft with rain. And You make the plants grow well. ¹¹ You crown the year with Your good gifts. There is more than enough where You have been. ¹² The fields of the desert are filled with water. And the hills dress themselves with joy. ¹³ The grass lands are covered with birds. And the valleys are covered with grain. They call out for joy and sing.

Water Becomes Blood

¹⁴ The Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is not changed. He will not let the people go. ¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning when he is going out to the water. Wait for him beside the Nile River. Take in your hand the special stick that became a snake. ¹⁶ And say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, so they may worship Me in the desert. But see, you have not yet listened.” ¹⁷ So the Lord says, “By this you will know that I am the Lord. I will hit the water of the Nile with the special stick that is in my hand. And the water will be changed to blood. ¹⁸ The fish that are in the Nile will die. And the Nile will have a bad smell. The Egyptians will not be able to drink water from the Nile.”’” ¹⁹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your special stick and put your hand out over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their pools, and all their man-made lakes of water, so they will become blood. There will be blood through all the land of Egypt, even in pots of wood and pots of stone.’”

²⁰ Moses and Aaron did what the Lord had told them. Aaron raised the special stick and hit the water of the Nile in front of Pharaoh and his servants. And all the water in the Nile was turned into blood. ²¹ The

fish that were in the Nile died. And the Nile had a bad smell. So the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. The blood was through all the land of Egypt. ²² But the wonder-workers of Egypt did the same thing using their secret ways. And Pharaoh’s heart was hard. He did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said. ²³ Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house, without even thinking what had happened. ²⁴ And all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink. For they could not drink the water of the Nile.

¹³ When a south wind started to blow, they thought their plan was right. They pulled up the anchor and went close to the shore of Crete.

¹⁴ Later a bad wind storm came down from the land. It was called a northeaster. ¹⁵ The ship was stopped by the wind. After awhile we gave up and let it go with the wind. ¹⁶ We went behind a small island called Claudia. It was hard work but we were able to make the ship’s boat safe. ¹⁷ They pulled it up and tied ropes around it and the ship. They were afraid of going on the Syrtis sands. So they took the sail down and let the ship go with the wind.

¹⁸ The storm was so bad the high waves were beating against the ship. The next day the men threw some of the freight over into the sea. ¹⁹ On the third day, with their own hands, they threw part of the sails and ropes into the sea. ²⁰ We did not see the sun or stars for many days. A very bad storm kept beating against us. We lost all hope of being saved.

Paul Shows His Faith

²¹ No one had eaten for a long time. Then Paul stood up and said to them, “Men, you should have listened to me and not left Crete. You would not have had this trouble and loss. ²² But now I want you to take hope. No one will lose his life. Only the ship will be lost. ²³ I belong to God and I work for Him. Last night an angel of God stood by me ²⁴ and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand in front of Caesar. God has given you the lives of all the men on this ship.’ ²⁵ So take hope, men. I believe my God will do what He has told me. ²⁶ But the ship will be lost on some island.”

²⁷ It was now the fourteenth night. We were going with the wind on the Adriatic Sea. At midnight the sailors thought land was near. ²⁸ They let down the lead weight and found the water was not very deep. After they had gone a little farther, they found there was not as much water. ²⁹ They were afraid we might be thrown against the rocks on the shore. So they put out four anchors from the back of the ship. Then they waited for morning to come.

³⁰ The sailors were thinking of leaving the ship. They let down a boat as if they were going to put out anchors from the front of the ship. ³¹ But Paul said to the captain and the soldiers, “These men must stay on the ship or you cannot be safe!” ³² Then the soldiers cut the ropes and let the boat fall into the sea.

³³ Just before the light of day came, Paul told all of them to eat. He said, “Today is the fourteenth day you have not eaten. ³⁴ You must eat. It will give you strength. Not one of you will lose a hair from your head.”

³⁵ After he said this, he took some bread. He gave thanks to God in front of them all. He broke it in pieces and started to eat. ³⁶ They all were comforted. Each one ate some food. ³⁷ All together there were 276 of us on the ship. ³⁸ After they had eaten, they threw the wheat into the sea so the ship would not be as heavy.