Psalms 4; Psalms 5; Psalms 6; Acts 17:16-34

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Psalms 4

1 To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David. Answer me when I call, O God of my right! Thou hast given me room when I was in distress. Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.

2 O men, how long shall my honor suffer shame? How long will you love vain words, and seek after lies? [Selah]

3 But know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD hears when I call to him.

4 Be angry, but sin not; commune with your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. [Selah]

5 Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the LORD.

6 There are many who say, "O that we might see some good! Lift up the light of thy countenance upon us, O LORD!"

7 Thou hast put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.

8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for thou alone, O LORD, makest me dwell in safety.

Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Psalms 5

1 To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O LORD; give heed to my groaning.

2 Hearken to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to thee do I pray.

3 O LORD, in the morning thou dost hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for thee, and watch.

4 For thou art not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not sojourn with thee.

5 The boastful may not stand before thy eyes; thou hatest all evildoers.

6 Thou destroyest those who speak lies; the LORD abhors bloodthirsty and deceitful men.

7 But I through the abundance of thy steadfast love will enter thy house, I will worship toward thy holy temple in the fear of thee.

8 Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of my enemies; make thy way straight before me.

9 For there is no truth in their mouth; their heart is destruction, their throat is an open sepulchre, they flatter with their tongue.

10 Make them bear their guilt, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; because of their many transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against thee.

11 But let all who take refuge in thee rejoice, let them ever sing for joy; and do thou defend them, that those who love thy name may exult in thee.

12 For thou dost bless the righteous, O LORD; thou dost cover him with favor as with a shield.

Psalms 6

1 To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments; according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David. O LORD, rebuke me not in thy anger, nor chasten me in thy wrath.

2 Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are troubled.

3 My soul also is sorely troubled. But thou, O LORD--how long?

4 Turn, O LORD, save my life; deliver me for the sake of thy steadfast love.

5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee; in Sheol who can give thee praise?

6 I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.

7 My eye wastes away because of grief, it grows weak because of all my foes.

8 Depart from me, all you workers of evil; for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.

9 The LORD has heard my supplication; the LORD accepts my prayer.

10 All my enemies shall be ashamed and sorely troubled; they shall turn back, and be put to shame in a moment.

Acts 17:16-34

16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.

17 So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the market place every day with those who chanced to be there.

18 Some also of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers met him. And some said, "What would this babbler say?" Others said, "He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities" --because he preached Jesus and the resurrection.

19 And they took hold of him and brought him to the Are-op'agus, saying, "May we know what this new teaching is which you present?

20 For you bring some strange things to our ears; we wish to know therefore what these things mean."

21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

22 So Paul, standing in the middle of the Are-op'agus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.

23 For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man,

25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything.

26 And he made from one every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation,

27 that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after him and find him. Yet he is not far from each one of us,

28 for 'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your poets have said, 'For we are indeed his offspring.'

29 Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the Deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, a representation by the art and imagination of man.

30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent,

31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all men by raising him from the dead."

32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, "We will hear you again about this."

33 So Paul went out from among them.

34 But some men joined him and believed, among them Dionys'ius the Are-op'agite and a woman named Dam'aris and others with them.