Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
This psalm is a song that David wrote for the music leader.
We trust God to save us[a]
65 God, it is right for us to praise you in Zion.
There, we will offer to you
the gifts that we have promised.
2 You answer our prayers.
All of us must come to you,
3 because of our many sins.
Our sins are too heavy for us to carry,
but you forgive the bad things that we do against you.[b]
4 You have blessed each person that you have chosen.
You let them live near to you in your home.
The good things that are in your holy temple
will make us very happy!
5 God, you are the one who saves us!
You answer our prayers,
and you do great things to rescue us.
People from everywhere on earth trust in you,
even those who live far away across the seas.
6 You used your power to make the mountains,
and you showed how strong you are.
7 You stop the seas from being angry,
so that their waters make no noise.[c]
You do the same with the angry nations.
8 People who live far away see
the great things that you have done.
It makes them afraid.
Everywhere on earth, east and west,
people sing happy songs to praise you.
9 You take care of the land.
You send rain to make the earth good for plants.
Your rivers are full of water.
You cause the earth to give good crops
so that the people have grain to eat.
10 When people plough their fields,
you send rain to make the earth wet.
You make the ground soft with the rain,
so that crops grow there.
11 Every year at harvest time,
you bless people with lots of good things.
Everywhere that you go,
there is plenty of food.[d]
12 Fresh grass covers the fields in the wilderness.
There are plenty of good things all over the hills,
so that people are very happy.
13 The fields are full of sheep.
The valleys are covered with crops.
Everywhere seems to shout and sing for joy!
7: Hail
13 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Get up early in the morning and go to Pharaoh. Say to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Israelites says: Let my people go to worship me. 14 This time, I will send all my troubles to punish you. I will send them against you, your officers and your people. I want you to know that there is nobody as great as me in the whole earth. That is why I am doing this. 15 Already I could have used my power to destroy you and your people. With one very bad trouble, I could have removed you from the earth. 16 But I have let you live, to show you my power. Then people all over the world will know how great I am. 17 You are still too proud to let my people go.
18 Look! Tomorrow at this time, I will send a very great storm of hail. Nobody has ever seen hail fall like this in Egypt before now. From Egypt's first day as a country until today, nobody has seen a storm like this. 19 Now send your servants out to tell this message to your people. You must bring into your houses all your animals from the fields to be safe. The hail will fall on every person and on every animal that is still outside. They will all die.” ’
20 Some of Pharaoh's officers were afraid of what the Lord said he would do. So they quickly brought their servants and animals inside their houses. 21 But others did not believe the Lord's message. They left their servants and animals outside in the fields.
22 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Lift up your hand towards the sky. Then hail will fall over all the country of Egypt. It will fall on people and on animals. It will fall on all the plants that grow in the fields of Egypt.’
23 When Moses lifted up his stick towards the sky, the Lord sent a great storm. He sent thunder, hail and lightning. 24 The hail fell and there was lightning like fire. It was the worst storm anywhere in Egypt since Egypt had become a nation. 25 Everywhere in Egypt, the hail knocked down everything that was in the fields. It knocked down both people and animals. It knocked down all the plants in the fields and it broke all the trees. 26 But no hail fell in the region of Goshen, where the Israelites lived.
27 Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron to come to him. He said to them, ‘This time, I have done a bad thing. The Lord is right. I and my people are guilty. 28 The storms with the thunder and the hail are too much for us! Pray to the Lord to take them away. Then I will let you go! You do not need to stay any longer in Egypt.’
29 Then Moses said to Pharaoh, ‘As soon as I leave the city, I will lift my hands to the Lord and I will pray to him. The storm will stop and there will be no more hail. Then you will know that the whole world belongs to the Lord. 30 But I know you and your officers. You still do not respect the Lord God.’[a]
31 At that time, the barley was ripe in the fields and the flax was nearly ripe. So the storm of hail destroyed the flax and the barley. 32 But the hail did not destroy the wheat and other grains. Those crops become ripe later in the year.[b]
33 Then Moses left Pharaoh and he went out of the city. He lifted up his hands to the Lord and he prayed. Then the storms and the hail stopped. The heavy rain stopped falling on the earth.
34 Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the storms had stopped. So he did a bad thing again. His mind and his officers' minds became hard. 35 Pharaoh still refused to obey God. He did not let the Israelites go. The Lord had told Moses that this would happen, and it did!
The sea completely destroys the ship
39 In the morning, the ship was near to some land, but the sailors did not recognize the place. They saw a place on the shore where there was a lot of sand. They wanted to drive the ship onto the sand. 40 So the sailors cut the ropes which had the anchors on them. They left the anchors there in the sea. They also removed the ropes which had tied the rudders. Then they raised the sail at the front of the ship. Now the wind could blow the ship straight towards the shore. 41 But there was a place in the sea where the water was not deep. The ship sailed onto the sand in this place and it stayed there. The front of the ship pushed into the sand and it could not move. The sea was very strong and it hit against the back of the ship. As a result, the back of the ship broke into pieces.
42 The soldiers decided to kill the prisoners that they were guarding. They did not want these men to swim to the land and escape. 43 But the army officer wanted to save Paul. So he commanded the soldiers not to kill the men. Instead he said, ‘Everyone who can swim, jump into the water first. Then swim to the shore. 44 You other people must follow them. Hold on to pieces of wood, or pieces of the ship.’
In this way all of us got safely out of the sea and we arrived on the land.
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