Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
65 1-2 O God in Zion, we wait before you in silent praise, and thus fulfill our vow. And because you answer prayer, all mankind will come to you with their requests. 3 Though sins fill our hearts, you forgive them all. 4 How greatly to be envied are those you have chosen to come and live with you within the holy tabernacle courts! What joys await us among all the good things there. 5 With dread deeds and awesome power you will defend us from our enemies,[a] O God who saves us. You are the only hope of all mankind throughout the world and far away upon the sea.
6 He formed the mountains by his mighty strength. 7 He quiets the raging oceans and all the world’s clamor. 8 In the farthest corners of the earth the glorious acts of God shall startle everyone. The dawn and sunset shout for joy! 9 He waters the earth to make it fertile. The rivers of God will not run dry! He prepares the earth for his people and sends them rich harvests of grain. 10 He waters the furrows with abundant rain. Showers soften the earth, melting the clods and causing seeds to sprout across the land. 11-12 Then he crowns it all with green, lush pastures in the wilderness; hillsides blossom with joy. 13 The pastures are filled with flocks of sheep, and the valleys are carpeted with grain. All the world shouts with joy and sings.
13 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Jehovah the God of the Hebrews says, “Let my people go to worship me. 14 This time I am going to send a plague that will really speak to you and to your servants and to all the Egyptian people, and prove to you there is no other God in all the earth. 15 I could have killed you all by now, 16 but I didn’t, for I wanted to demonstrate my power to you and to all the earth. 17 So you still think you are so great, do you, and defy my power, and refuse to let my people go? 18 Well, tomorrow about this time I will send a hailstorm across the nation such as there has never been since Egypt was founded! 19 Quick! Bring in your cattle from the fields, for every man and animal left out in the fields will die beneath the hail!”’”
20 Some of the Egyptians, terrified by this threat, brought their cattle and slaves in from the fields; 21 but those who had no regard for the word of Jehovah left them out in the storm.
22 Then Jehovah said to Moses, “Point your hand toward heaven and cause the hail to fall throughout all Egypt, upon the people, animals, and trees.”
23 So Moses held out his hand, and the Lord sent thunder and hail and lightning. 24 It was terrible beyond description. Never in all the history of Egypt had there been a storm like that. 25 All Egypt lay in ruins. Everything left in the fields, men and animals alike, was killed, and the trees were shattered and the crops were destroyed. 26 The only spot in all Egypt without hail that day was the land of Goshen where the people of Israel lived.
27 Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron. “I finally see my fault,” he confessed. “Jehovah is right, and I and my people have been wrong all along. 28 Beg God to end this terrifying thunder and hail, and I will let you go at once.”
29 “All right,” Moses replied, “as soon as I have left the city I will spread out my hands to the Lord, and the thunder and hail will stop. This will prove to you that the earth is controlled by Jehovah. 30 But as for you and your officials, I know that even yet you will not obey him.” 31 All the flax and barley were knocked down and destroyed (for the barley was ripe, and the flax was in bloom), 32 but the wheat and the emmer were not destroyed, for they were not yet out of the ground.
33 So Moses left Pharaoh and went out of the city and lifted his hands to heaven to the Lord, and the thunder and hail stopped, and the rain ceased pouring down. 34 When Pharaoh saw this, he and his officials sinned yet more by their stubborn refusal to do what they had promised; 35 so Pharaoh refused to let the people leave, just as the Lord had predicted to Moses.
39 When it was day, they didn’t recognize the coastline, but noticed a bay with a beach and wondered whether they could get between the rocks and be driven up onto the beach. 40 They finally decided to try. Cutting off the anchors and leaving them in the sea, they lowered the rudders, raised the foresail, and headed ashore. 41 But the ship hit a sandbar[a] and ran aground. The bow of the ship stuck fast, while the stern was exposed to the violence of the waves and began to break apart.
42 The soldiers advised their commanding officer to let them kill the prisoners lest any of them swim ashore and escape. 43 But Julius[b] wanted to spare Paul, so he told them no. Then he ordered all who could swim to jump overboard and make for land, 44 and the rest to try for it on planks and debris from the broken ship. So everyone escaped safely ashore!
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.