At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”

  Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD. And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.”

    Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
    Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
        and cry to her
    that her warfare is ended,
        that her iniquity is pardoned,
    that she has received from the LORD’s hand
        double for all her sins.
    
    
    A voice cries:
    “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
        make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
    Every valley shall be lifted up,
        and every mountain and hill be made low;
    the uneven ground shall become level,
        and the rough places a plain.
    And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
        and all flesh shall see it together,
        for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
    
    
        A voice says, “Cry!”
        And I said, “What shall I cry?”
    All flesh is grass,
        and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
    The grass withers, the flower fades
        when the breath of the LORD blows on it;
        surely the people are grass.
    The grass withers, the flower fades,
        but the word of our God will stand forever.
    
    
        Go on up to a high mountain,
        O Zion, herald of good news;
    lift up your voice with strength,
        O Jerusalem, herald of good news;
        lift it up, fear not;
    say to the cities of Judah,
        “Behold your God!”
    Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,
        and his arm rules for him;
    behold, his reward is with him,
        and his recompense before him.
    He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
        he will gather the lambs in his arms;
    he will carry them in his bosom,
        and gently lead those that are with young.
    
    
    Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
        and marked off the heavens with a span,
    enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
        and weighed the mountains in scales
        and the hills in a balance?
    Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD,
        or what man shows him his counsel?
    Whom did he consult,
        and who made him understand?
    Who taught him the path of justice,
        and taught him knowledge,
        and showed him the way of understanding?
    Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
        and are accounted as the dust on the scales;
        behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
    Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
        nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
    All the nations are as nothing before him,
        they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
    
    
    To whom then will you liken God,
        or what likeness compare with him?
    An idol! A craftsman casts it,
        and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
        and casts for it silver chains.
    He who is too impoverished for an offering
        chooses wood that will not rot;
    he seeks out a skillful craftsman
        to set up an idol that will not move.
    
    
    Do you not know? Do you not hear?
        Has it not been told you from the beginning?
        Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
    It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
        and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
    who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
        and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
    who brings princes to nothing,
        and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
    
    
    Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
        scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
    when he blows on them, and they wither,
        and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
    
    
    To whom then will you compare me,
        that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
    Lift up your eyes on high and see:
        who created these?
    He who brings out their host by number,
        calling them all by name;
    by the greatness of his might
        and because he is strong in power,
        not one is missing.
    
    
    Why do you say, O Jacob,
        and speak, O Israel,
    “My way is hidden from the LORD,
        and my right is disregarded by my God”?
    Have you not known? Have you not heard?
    The LORD is the everlasting God,
        the Creator of the ends of the earth.
    He does not faint or grow weary;
        his understanding is unsearchable.
    He gives power to the faint,
        and to him who has no might he increases strength.
    Even youths shall faint and be weary,
        and young men shall fall exhausted;
    but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
        they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
    they shall run and not be weary;
        they shall walk and not faint. (ESV)

When the fourteenth night had come, as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. So they took a sounding and found twenty fathoms. A little farther on they took a sounding again and found fifteen fathoms. And fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and had lowered the ship’s boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it go.

  As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. Therefore I urge you to take some food. For it will give you strength, for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you.” And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat. Then they all were encouraged and ate some food themselves. (We were in all 276 persons in the ship.) And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea.

  Now when it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, on which they planned if possible to run the ship ashore. So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the ropes that tied the rudders. Then hoisting the foresail to the wind they made for the beach. But striking a reef, they ran the vessel aground. The bow stuck and remained immovable, and the stern was being broken up by the surf. The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any should swim away and escape. But the centurion, wishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land, and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to land. (ESV)