Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
God’s Abundant Favor to Earth and Man.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David. A Song.
65 There will be silence [a]before You, and praise in Zion, O God,
And to You the (A)vow will be performed.
2 O You who hear prayer,
To You (B)all [b]men come.
3 [c](C)Iniquities prevail against me;
As for our transgressions, You [d](D)forgive them.
4 How (E)blessed is the one whom You (F)choose and bring near to You
To dwell in Your courts.
We will be (G)satisfied with the goodness of Your house,
Your holy temple.
5 By (H)awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, O (I)God of our salvation,
You who are the trust of all the (J)ends of the earth and of the farthest [e](K)sea;
6 Who (L)establishes the mountains by His strength,
Being (M)girded with might;
7 Who (N)stills the roaring of the seas,
The roaring of their waves,
And the (O)tumult of the peoples.
8 They who dwell in the (P)ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs;
You make the [f]dawn 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 thus 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 [k](V)bounty,
And Your [l]paths (W)drip with fatness.
12 (X)The pastures of the wilderness drip,
And the (Y)hills gird 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 Is Turned to 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]as (A)he is going out to the water, and station 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 (C)You shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “(D)Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened until now.” 17 Thus says the Lord, “(E)By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, I will strike [c]the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and (F)it will be turned to blood. 18 (G)The fish that are in the Nile will die, and the Nile will [d]become foul, and the Egyptians will [e](H)find difficulty in drinking water from the Nile.”’” 19 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and (I)stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their [f]streams, and over their pools, and over all their reservoirs of water, that they may become blood; and there will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’”
20 So Moses and Aaron did even as the Lord had commanded. And he lifted up [g](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 to blood. 21 The fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile [h]became foul, 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 [i]magicians of Egypt did [j]the same with their secret arts; and Pharaoh’s heart was [k]hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said. 23 Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house [l]with no concern even for this. 24 So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink of the water of the Nile.
13 [a]When a moderate south wind came up, supposing that they had attained their purpose, they weighed anchor and began (A)sailing along (B)Crete, close inshore.
Shipwreck
14 But before very long there (C)rushed down from [b]the land a violent wind, called [c]Euraquilo; 15 and when the ship was caught in it and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and let ourselves be driven along. 16 Running under the shelter of a small island called Clauda, we were scarcely able to get the ship’s [d]boat under control. 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 in this way let themselves be driven along. 18 The next day as we were being violently storm-tossed, [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 gradually abandoned.
21 [h]When they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up in their midst and said, “(F)Men, you ought to have [i]followed my advice and not to have set sail from (G)Crete and [j]incurred this (H)damage and loss. 22 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 and (K)whom I serve (L)stood before me, 24 saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; (M)you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you (N)all those who are sailing with you.’ 25 Therefore, (O)keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that [k]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 surmise that [l]they were approaching some land. 28 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 [m]rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and [n]wished 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 of intending to lay out anchors from the bow, 31 Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, “Unless these men remain in 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 was 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 nothing. 34 Therefore I encourage you to take some food, for this is for your preservation, 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 all, and he broke it and began to eat. 36 All (W)of them [o]were encouraged and they themselves also took food. 37 All of us in the ship were two hundred and seventy-six [p](X)persons. 38 When they had eaten enough, they began to lighten the ship by (Y)throwing out the wheat into the sea.
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