Add parallel Print Page Options

Psalm 65

Thanksgiving for Earth’s Bounty

To the leader. A Psalm of David. A Song.

Praise is due to you,
    O God, in Zion,
and to you shall vows be performed,(A)
    O you who answer prayer!
To you all flesh shall come.(B)
When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us,
    you forgive our transgressions.(C)
Happy are those whom you choose and bring near
    to live in your courts.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
    your holy temple.(D)

By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance,
    O God of our salvation;
you are the hope of all the ends of the earth
    and of the farthest seas.(E)
By your[a] strength you established the mountains;
    you are girded with might.(F)
You silence the roaring of the seas,
    the roaring of their waves,
    the tumult of the peoples.(G)
Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs;
you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.

You visit the earth and water it;
    you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
    you provide the people with grain,
    for so you have prepared it.(H)
10 You water its furrows abundantly,
    settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
    and blessing its growth.
11 You crown the year with your bounty;
    your wagon tracks overflow with richness.
12 The pastures of the wilderness overflow;
    the hills gird themselves with joy;(I)
13 the meadows clothe themselves with flocks;
    the valleys deck themselves with grain;
    they shout and sing together for joy.(J)

Footnotes

  1. 65.6 Gk Jerome: Heb his

The First Plague: Water Turned to Blood

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go.(A) 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water; stand by at the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was turned into a snake.(B) 16 Say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you to say, “Let my people go, so that they may serve me in the wilderness.” But until now you have not listened.(C) 17 Thus says the Lord, “By this you shall know that I am the Lord.” See, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall be turned to blood.(D) 18 The fish in the river shall die, the river itself shall stink, and the Egyptians shall be unable to drink water from the Nile.’ ”(E) 19 The Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron: Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over its rivers, its canals, and its ponds, and all its pools of water—so that they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout the whole land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.”(F)

20 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and of his officials he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile; all the water in the river was turned into blood,(G) 21 and the fish in the river died. The river stank so that the Egyptians could not drink its water, and there was blood throughout the whole land of Egypt.(H) 22 But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts; so Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.(I) 23 Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart. 24 And all the Egyptians had to dig along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the river.

Read full chapter

The Storm at Sea

13 When a moderate south wind began to blow, they thought they could achieve their purpose; so they weighed anchor and began to sail past Crete, close to the shore. 14 But soon a violent wind, called the northeaster, rushed down from Crete.[a](A) 15 Since the ship was caught and could not be turned head-on into the wind, we gave way to it and were driven. 16 By running under the lee of a small island called Cauda[b] we were scarcely able to get the ship’s boat under control. 17 After hoisting it up they took measures to undergird the ship; then, fearing that they would run on the Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and so were driven.(B) 18 We were being pounded by the storm so violently that on the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard,(C) 19 and on the third day with their own hands they threw the ship’s tackle overboard. 20 When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and no small tempest raged, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.

21 Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul then stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and thereby avoided this damage and loss.(D) 22 I urge you now to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.(E) 23 For last night there stood by me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship,(F) 24 and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before the emperor, and, indeed, God has granted safety to all those who are sailing with you.’(G) 25 So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told.(H) 26 But we will have to run aground on some island.”(I)

27 When the fourteenth night had come, as we were drifting across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. 28 So they took soundings and found twenty fathoms; a little farther on they took soundings again and found fifteen fathoms. 29 Fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. 30 But when the sailors tried to escape from the ship and had lowered the boat into the sea on the pretext of putting out anchors from the bow,(J) 31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the boat and set it adrift.

33 Just before daybreak, Paul urged all of them to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been in suspense and remaining without food, having eaten nothing. 34 Therefore I urge you to take some food, for it will help you survive, for none of you will lose a hair from your heads.”(K) 35 After he had said this, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all, he broke it and began to eat.(L) 36 Then all of them were encouraged and took food for themselves.(M) 37 (We were in all two hundred seventy-six[c] persons in the ship.) 38 After they had satisfied their hunger, they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea.(N)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 27.14 Gk it
  2. 27.16 Other ancient authorities read Clauda
  3. 27.37 Other ancient authorities read about seventy-six