Ruth 2

• 1. Now there was a wealthy and influential man in Bethlehem named Boaz, who was a relative of Naomi's husband, Elimelech.
• 2. One day Ruth said to Naomi, "Let me go out into the fields to gather leftover grain behind anyone who will let me do it." And Naomi said, "All right, my daughter, go ahead."
• 3. So Ruth went out to gather grain behind the harvesters. And as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her father-in-law, Elimelech.
• 4. While she was there, Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters. "The LORD be with you!" he said. "The LORD bless you!" the harvesters replied.
• 5. Then Boaz asked his foreman, "Who is that girl over there?"
• 6. And the foreman replied, "She is the young woman from Moab who came back with Naomi.
• 7. She asked me this morning if she could gather grain behind the harvesters. She has been hard at work ever since, except for a few minutes' rest over there in the shelter."
• 8. Boaz went over and said to Ruth, "Listen, my daughter. Stay right here with us when you gather grain; don't go to any other fields. Stay right behind the women working in my field.
• 9. See which part of the field they are harvesting, and then follow them. I have warned the young men not to bother you. And when you are thirsty, help yourself to the water they have drawn from the well."
• 10. Ruth fell at his feet and thanked him warmly. "Why are you being so kind to me?" she asked. "I am only a foreigner."
• 11. "Yes, I know," Boaz replied. "But I also know about the love and kindness you have shown your mother-in-law since the death of your husband. I have heard how you left your father and mother and your own land to live here among complete strangers.
• 12. May the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge, reward you fully."
• 13. "I hope I continue to please you, sir," she replied. "You have comforted me by speaking so kindly to me, even though I am not as worthy as your workers."
• 14. At lunchtime Boaz called to her, "Come over here and help yourself to some of our food. You can dip your bread in the wine if you like." So she sat with his harvesters, and Boaz gave her food--more than she could eat.
• 15. When Ruth went back to work again, Boaz ordered his young men, "Let her gather grain right among the sheaves without stopping her.
• 16. And pull out some heads of barley from the bundles and drop them on purpose for her. Let her pick them up, and don't give her a hard time!"
• 17. So Ruth gathered barley there all day, and when she beat out the grain that evening, it came to about half a bushel.
• 18. She carried it back into town and showed it to her mother-in-law. Ruth also gave her the food that was left over from her lunch.
• 19. "So much!" Naomi exclaimed. "Where did you gather all this grain today? Where did you work? May the LORD bless the one who helped you!" So Ruth told her mother-in-law about the man in whose field she had worked. And she said, "The man I worked with today is named Boaz."
• 20. "May the LORD bless him!" Naomi told her daughter-in-law. "He is showing his kindness to us as well as to your dead husband. That man is one of our closest relatives, one of our family redeemers."
• 21. Then Ruth said, "What's more, Boaz even told me to come back and stay with his harvesters until the entire harvest is completed."
• 22. "This is wonderful!" Naomi exclaimed. "Do as he said. Stay with his workers right through the whole harvest. You will be safe there, unlike in other fields."
• 23. So Ruth worked alongside the women in Boaz's fields and gathered grain with them until the end of the barley harvest. Then she worked with them through the wheat harvest, too. But all the while she lived with her mother-in-law.

Acts 27

• 1. When the time came, we set sail for Italy. Paul and several other prisoners were placed in the custody of an army officer named Julius, a captain of the Imperial Regiment.
• 2. And Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was also with us. We left on a boat whose home port was Adramyttium; it was scheduled to make several stops at ports along the coast of the province of Asia.
• 3. The next day when we docked at Sidon, Julius was very kind to Paul and let him go ashore to visit with friends so they could provide for his needs.
• 4. Putting out to sea from there, we encountered headwinds that made it difficult to keep the ship on course, so we sailed north of Cyprus between the island and the mainland.
• 5. We passed along the coast of the provinces of Cilicia and Pamphylia, landing at Myra, in the province of Lycia.
• 6. There the officer found an Egyptian ship from Alexandria that was bound for Italy, and he put us on board.
• 7. We had several days of rough sailing, and after great difficulty we finally neared Cnidus. But the wind was against us, so we sailed down to the leeward side of Crete, past the cape of Salmone.
• 8. We struggled along the coast with great difficulty and finally arrived at Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.
• 9. We had lost a lot of time. The weather was becoming dangerous for long voyages by then because it was so late in the fall, and Paul spoke to the ship's officers about it.
• 10. "Sirs," he said, "I believe there is trouble ahead if we go on--shipwreck, loss of cargo, injuries, and danger to our lives."
• 11. But the officer in charge of the prisoners listened more to the ship's captain and the owner than to Paul.
• 12. And since Fair Havens was an exposed harbor--a poor place to spend the winter--most of the crew wanted to go to Phoenix, farther up the coast of Crete, and spend the winter there. Phoenix was a good harbor with only a southwest and northwest exposure.
• 13. When a light wind began blowing from the south, the sailors thought they could make it. So they pulled up anchor and sailed along close to shore.
• 14. But the weather changed abruptly, and a wind of typhoon strength (a "northeaster," they called it) caught the ship and blew it out to sea.
• 15. They couldn't turn the ship into the wind, so they gave up and let it run before the gale.
• 16. We sailed behind a small island named Cauda, where with great difficulty we hoisted aboard the lifeboat that was being towed behind us.
• 17. Then we banded the ship with ropes to strengthen the hull. The sailors were afraid of being driven across to the sandbars of Syrtis off the African coast, so they lowered the sea anchor and were thus driven before the wind.
• 18. The next day, as gale-force winds continued to batter the ship, the crew began throwing the cargo overboard.
• 19. The following day they even threw out the ship's equipment and anything else they could lay their hands on.
• 20. The terrible storm raged unabated for many days, blotting out the sun and the stars, until at last all hope was gone.
• 21. No one had eaten for a long time. Finally, Paul called the crew together and said, "Men, you should have listened to me in the first place and not left Fair Havens. You would have avoided all this injury and loss.
• 22. But take courage! None of you will lose your lives, even though the ship will go down.
• 23. For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me,
• 24. and he said, 'Don't be afraid, Paul, for you will surely stand trial before Caesar! What's more, God in his goodness has granted safety to everyone sailing with you.'
• 25. So take courage! For I believe God. It will be just as he said.
• 26. But we will be shipwrecked on an island."
• 27. About midnight on the fourteenth night of the storm, as we were being driven across the Sea of Adria, the sailors sensed land was near.
• 28. They took soundings and found the water was only 120 feet deep. A little later they sounded again and found only 90 feet.
• 29. At this rate they were afraid we would soon be driven against the rocks along the shore, so they threw out four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight.
• 30. Then the sailors tried to abandon the ship; they lowered the lifeboat as though they were going to put out anchors from the prow.
• 31. But Paul said to the commanding officer and the soldiers, "You will all die unless the sailors stay aboard."
• 32. So the soldiers cut the ropes and let the boat fall off.
• 33. As the darkness gave way to the early morning light, Paul begged everyone to eat. "You haven't touched food for two weeks," he said.
• 34. "Please eat something now for your own good. For not a hair of your heads will perish."
• 35. Then he took some bread, gave thanks to God before them all, and broke off a piece and ate it.
• 36. Then everyone was encouraged,
• 37. and all 276 of us began eating--for that is the number we had aboard.
• 38. After eating, the crew lightened the ship further by throwing the cargo of wheat overboard.
• 39. When morning dawned, they didn't recognize the coastline, but they saw a bay with a beach and wondered if they could get between the rocks and get the ship safely to shore.
• 40. So they cut off the anchors and left them in the sea. Then they lowered the rudders, raised the foresail, and headed toward shore.
• 41. But the ship hit a shoal and ran aground. The bow of the ship stuck fast, while the stern was repeatedly smashed by the force of the waves and began to break apart.
• 42. The soldiers wanted to kill the prisoners to make sure they didn't swim ashore and escape.
• 43. But the commanding officer wanted to spare Paul, so he didn't let them carry out their plan. Then he ordered all who could swim to jump overboard first and make for land,
• 44. and he told the others to try for it on planks and debris from the broken ship. So everyone escaped safely ashore!

Jeremiah 37

• 1. Zedekiah son of Josiah succeeded Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim as the king of Judah. He was appointed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
• 2. But neither King Zedekiah nor his officials nor the people who were left in the land listened to what the LORD said through Jeremiah.
• 3. Nevertheless, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the priest, son of Maaseiah, to ask Jeremiah, "Please pray to the LORD our God for us."
• 4. Jeremiah had not yet been imprisoned, so he could come and go as he pleased.
• 5. At this time the army of Pharaoh Hophra of Egypt appeared at the southern border of Judah. When the Babylonian army heard about it, they withdrew from their siege of Jerusalem.
• 6. Then the LORD gave this message to Jeremiah:
• 7. "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to ask me what is going to happen, that Pharaoh's army is about to return to Egypt, though he came here to help you.
• 8. Then the Babylonians will come back and capture this city and burn it to the ground.
• 9. The LORD says: Do not fool yourselves that the Babylonians are gone for good. They aren't!
• 10. Even if you were to destroy the entire Babylonian army, leaving only a handful of wounded survivors, they would still stagger from their tents and burn this city to the ground!"
• 11. When the Babylonian army left Jerusalem because of Pharaoh's approaching army,
• 12. Jeremiah started to leave the city on his way to the land of Benjamin, to see the property he had bought.
• 13. But as he was walking through the Benjamin Gate, a sentry arrested him and said, "You are defecting to the Babylonians!" The sentry making the arrest was Irijah son of Shelemiah and grandson of Hananiah.
• 14. "That's not true!" Jeremiah protested. "I had no intention of doing any such thing." But Irijah wouldn't listen, and he took Jeremiah before the officials.
• 15. They were furious with Jeremiah and had him flogged and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the secretary. Jonathan's house had been converted into a prison.
• 16. Jeremiah was put into a dungeon cell, where he remained for many days.
• 17. Later King Zedekiah secretly requested that Jeremiah come to the palace, where the king asked him, "Do you have any messages from the LORD?Yes, I do!" said Jeremiah. "You will be defeated by the king of Babylon."
• 18. Then Jeremiah asked the king, "What crime have I committed? What have I done against you, your officials, or the people that I should be imprisoned like this?
• 19. Where are your prophets now who told you the king of Babylon would not attack you?
• 20. Listen, my lord the king, I beg you. Don't send me back to the dungeon in the house of Jonathan the secretary, for I will die there."
• 21. So King Zedekiah commanded that Jeremiah not be returned to the dungeon. Instead, he was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace. The king also commanded that Jeremiah be given a loaf of fresh bread every day as long as there was any left in the city. So Jeremiah was put in the palace prison.

New Living Translation: 221 of 365 days.