Psalms 7; Psalms 8; Psalms 9; Acts 18

1 I take refuge in you, LORD, my God. Save me from all who chase me! Rescue me!

2 Otherwise, they will rip me apart, dragging me off with no chance of rescue.

3 LORD, my God, if I have done this— if my hands have done anything wrong,

4 if I have repaid a friend with evil or oppressed a foe for no reason—

5 then let my enemy not only chase but catch me, trampling my life into the ground, laying my reputation in the dirt. Selah

6 Get up, LORD; get angry! Stand up against the fury of my foes! Wake up, my God; you command that justice be done!

7 Let the assembled peoples surround you. Rule them from on high!

8 The LORD will judge the peoples. Establish justice for me, LORD, according to my righteousness and according to my integrity.

9 Please let the evil of the wicked be over, but set the righteous firmly in place because you, the righteous God, are the one who examines hearts and minds.

10 God is my shield; he saves those whose heart is right.

11 God is a righteous judge, a God who is angry at evil every single day.

12 If someone doesn't change their ways, God will sharpen his sword, will bend his bow, will string an arrow.

13 God has deadly weapons in store for those who won't change; he gets his flaming arrows ready!

14 But look how the wicked hatch evil, conceive trouble, give birth to lies!

15 They make a pit, dig it all out, and then fall right into the hole that they've made!

16 The trouble they cause will come back on their own heads; the violence they commit will come down on their own skulls.

17 But I will thank the LORD for his righteousness; I will sing praises to the name of the LORD Most High.

1 LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the earth! You made your glory higher than heaven!

2 From the mouths of nursing babies you have laid a strong foundation because of your foes, in order to stop vengeful enemies.

3 When I look up at your skies, at what your fingers made— the moon and the stars that you set firmly in place—

4 what are human beings that you think about them; what are human beings that you pay attention to them?

5 You've made them only slightly less than divine, crowning them with glory and grandeur.

6 You've let them rule over your handiwork, putting everything under their feet—

7 all sheep and all cattle, the wild animals too,

8 the birds in the sky, the fish of the ocean, everything that travels the pathways of the sea.

9 LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the earth!

1 I will thank you, LORD, with all my heart; I will talk about all your wonderful acts.

2 I will celebrate and rejoice in you; I will sing praises to your name, Most High.

3 When my enemies turn and retreat, they fall down and die right in front of you

4 because you have established justice for me and my claim, because you rule from the throne, establishing justice rightly.

5 You've denounced the nations, destroyed the wicked. You've erased their names for all time.

6 Every enemy is wiped out, like something ruined forever. You've torn down their cities— even the memory of them is dead.

7 But the LORD rules forever! He assumes his throne for the sake of justice.

8 He will establish justice in the world rightly; he will judge all people fairly.

9 The LORD is a safe place for the oppressed— a safe place in difficult times.

10 Those who know your name trust you because you have not abandoned any who seek you, LORD.

11 Sing praises to the LORD, who lives in Zion! Proclaim his mighty acts among all people!

12 Because the one who avenges bloodshed remembers those who suffer; the LORD hasn't forgotten their cries for help.

13 Have mercy on me, LORD! Just look how I suffer because of those who hate me. But you are the one who brings me back from the very gates of death

14 so I can declare all your praises, so I can rejoice in your salvation in the gates of Daughter Zion.

15 The nations have fallen into the hole they themselves made! Their feet are caught in the very net they themselves hid!

16 The LORD is famous for the justice he has done; it's his own doing that the wicked are trapped. Higgayon. Selah

17 Let the wicked go straight to the grave, the same for every nation that forgets God.

18 Because the poor won't be forgotten forever, the hope of those who suffer won't be lost for all time.

19 Get up, LORD! Don't let people prevail! Let the nations be judged before you.

20 Strike them with fear, LORD. Let the nations know they are only human. Selah

1 After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

2 There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus. He had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul visited with them.

3 Because they practiced the same trade, he stayed and worked with them. They all worked with leather.

4 Every Sabbath he interacted with people in the synagogue, trying to convince both Jews and Greeks.

5 Once Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself fully to the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

6 When they opposed and slandered him, he shook the dust from his clothes in protest and said to them, "You are responsible for your own fates! I'm innocent! From now on I'll go to the Gentiles!"

7 He left the synagogue and went next door to the home of Titius Justus, a Gentile God-worshipper.

8 Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household came to believe in the Lord. Many Corinthians believed and were baptized after listening to Paul.

9 One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, "Don't be afraid. Continue speaking. Don't be silent.

10 I'm with you and no one who attacks you will harm you, for I have many people in this city."

11 So he stayed there for eighteen months, teaching God's word among them.

12 Now when Gallio was the governor of the province of Achaia, the Jews united in their opposition against Paul and brought him before the court.

13 "This man is persuading others to worship God unlawfully," they declared.

14 Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to the Jews, "If there had been some sort of injury or criminal behavior, I would have reason to accept your complaint.

15 However, since these are squabbles about a message, names, and your own Law, deal with them yourselves. I have no desire to sit in judgment over such things."

16 He expelled them from the court,

17 but everyone seized Sosthenes, the synagogue leader, and gave him a beating in the presence of the governor. None of this mattered to Gallio.

18 After Paul stayed in Corinth for some time, he said good-bye to the brothers and sisters. At the Corinthian seaport of Cenchreae he had his head shaved, since he had made a solemn promise. Then, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila, he sailed away to Syria.

19 After they arrived in Ephesus, he left Priscilla and Aquila and entered the synagogue and interacted with the Jews.

20 They asked him to stay longer, but he declined.

21 As he said farewell to them, though, he added, "God willing, I will return." Then he sailed off from Ephesus.

22 He arrived in Caesarea, went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch.

23 After some time there he left and traveled from place to place in the region of Galatia and the district of Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

24 Meanwhile, a certain Jew named Apollos arrived in Ephesus. He was a native of Alexandria and was well-educated and effective in his use of the scriptures.

25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and spoke as one stirred up by the Spirit. He taught accurately the things about Jesus, even though he was aware only of the baptism John proclaimed and practiced.

26 He began speaking with confidence in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they received him into their circle of friends and explained to him God's way more accurately.

27 When he wanted to travel to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples so they would open their homes to him. Once he arrived, he was of great help to those who had come to believe through grace.

28 He would vigorously defeat Jewish arguments in public debate, using the scriptures to prove that Jesus was the Christ.