Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
God’s Abundant Favor to Earth and Mankind.
For the music director. A Psalm of David. A Song.
65 There will be silence [a]before You, and praise in Zion, God,
And the (A)vow will be fulfilled for You.
2 You who hear prayer,
To You (B)all [b]mankind comes.
3 [c](C)Wrongdoings prevail against me;
As for our offenses, You [d](D)forgive them.
4 (E)Blessed is the one You (F)choose and allow to approach You;
He will dwell in Your courtyards.
We will be (G)satisfied with the goodness of Your house,
Your holy temple.
5 By (H)awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, (I)God of our salvation,
You who are the trust of all the (J)ends of the earth and the farthest [e](K)sea;
6 Who (L)establishes the mountains by His strength,
Who is (M)encircled with might;
7 Who (N)stills the roaring of the seas,
The roaring of their waves,
And the (O)turmoil of the nations.
8 They who dwell at the (P)ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs;
You make the [f]sunrise and the sunset shout for joy.
9 You visit the earth and (Q)cause it to overflow;
You greatly (R)enrich it;
The [g](S)stream of God is full of water;
You prepare their (T)grain, for so You prepare [h]the earth.
10 You water its furrows abundantly,
You [i]settle its ridges,
You soften it (U)with showers,
You bless its growth.
11 You have crowned the year [j]with Your (V)goodness,
And Your [k]paths (W)drip with fatness.
12 (X)The pastures of the wilderness drip,
And the (Y)hills encircle themselves with rejoicing.
13 The meadows are (Z)clothed with flocks
And the valleys are (AA)covered with grain;
They (AB)shout for joy, yes, they sing.
Water Turned into Blood
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is [a]stubborn; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning [b]just as (A)he is going out to the water, and position yourself to meet him on the bank of the Nile; and you shall take in your hand (B)the staff that was turned into a serpent. 16 And (C)you shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “(D)Let My people go, so that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened up to now.” 17 This is what the Lord says: “(E)By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, I am going to strike [c]the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and (F)it will be turned into blood. 18 Then (G)the fish that are in the Nile will die, the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will [d](H)no longer be able to drink water from the Nile.”’” 19 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and (I)extend your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their [e]streams, over their pools, and over all their reservoirs of water, so that they may become blood; and there will be blood through all the land of Egypt, both in containers of wood and in containers of stone.’”
20 So Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. And he lifted up [f](J)the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants; and (K)all the water that was in the Nile was turned into blood. 21 Then the fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. And the blood was through all the land of Egypt. 22 (L)But the soothsayer priests of Egypt did the same with their secret arts; and Pharaoh’s heart was [g]hardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said. 23 Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house [h]with no concern even for this. 24 So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink from the water of the Nile.
13 [a]When a moderate south wind came up, thinking that they had attained their purpose, they weighed anchor and began (A)sailing along (B)Crete, closer to shore.
Shipwreck
14 But before very long a violent wind, called [b]Euraquilo, (C)rushed down from [c]the land; 15 and when the ship was caught in it and could not head up into the wind, we gave up and let ourselves be driven by the wind. 16 Running under the shelter of a small island called Cauda, we were able to get the ship’s [d]boat under control only with difficulty. 17 After they had hoisted it up, they used [e]supporting cables in undergirding the ship; and fearing that they might (D)run aground on the shallows of Syrtis, they let down the [f]sea anchor and let themselves be driven along in this way. 18 The next day as we were being violently tossed by the storm, [g]they began to (E)jettison the cargo; 19 and on the third day they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. 20 Since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm was assailing us, from then on all hope of our being saved was slowly abandoned.
21 [h]When many had lost their appetites, Paul then stood among them and said, “[i](F)Men, you should have followed my advice and not have set sail from (G)Crete, and thereby spared yourselves this (H)damage and loss. 22 And yet now I urge you to (I)keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 23 For this very night (J)an angel of the God to whom I belong, (K)whom I also serve, (L)came to me, 24 saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; (M)you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has graciously granted you (N)all those who are sailing with you.’ 25 Therefore, (O)keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that [j]it will turn out exactly as I have been told. 26 But we must (P)run aground on a certain (Q)island.”
27 But when the fourteenth night came, as we were being driven about in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors began to suspect that [k]they were approaching some land. 28 And they took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms; and a little farther on they took another sounding and found it to be fifteen fathoms. 29 Fearing that we might (R)run aground somewhere on the [l]rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and [m]prayed for daybreak. 30 But as the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and had let down (S)the ship’s boat into the sea, on the pretense that they were going to lay out anchors from the bow, 31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain on the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut away the (T)ropes of the ship’s boat and let it fall away.
33 Until the day was about to dawn, Paul kept encouraging them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been constantly watching and going without eating, having taken in nothing. 34 Therefore, I encourage you to take some food, for this is for your survival, for (U)not a hair from the head of any of you will perish.” 35 Having said this, he took bread and (V)gave thanks to God in the presence of them all, and he broke it and began to eat. 36 All (W)of them [n]were encouraged and they themselves also took food. 37 We were 276 [o](X)people on the ship in all. 38 When they had eaten enough, they began lightening the ship by (Y)throwing the wheat out into the sea.
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