Psalms 40; Psalms 41; Psalms 42; Acts 27:1-26

Psalms 40

1 I waited patiently for the LORD ; And He inclined to me and heard my cry.

2 He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.

3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Many will see and fear And will trust in the LORD .

4 How blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.

5 Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with You. If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count.

6 Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened; Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required.

7 Then I said, "Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me.

8 I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart."

9 I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation; Behold, I will not restrain my lips, O LORD , You know.

10 I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great congregation.

11 You, O LORD , will not withhold Your compassion from me; Your lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me.

12 For evils beyond number have surrounded me; My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see; They are more numerous than the hairs of my head, And my heart has failed me.

13 Be pleased, O LORD , to deliver me; Make haste, O LORD , to help me.

14 Let those be ashamed and humiliated together Who seek my life to destroy it; Let those be turned back and dishonored Who delight in my hurt.

15 Let those be appalled because of their shame Who say to me, "Aha, aha!"

16 Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; Let those who love Your salvation say continually, "The LORD be magnified!"

17 Since I am afflicted and needy, Let the Lord be mindful of me. You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my God.

Psalms 41

1 How blessed is he who considers the helpless; The LORD will deliver him in a day of trouble.

2 The LORD will protect him and keep him alive, And he shall be called blessed upon the earth; And do not give him over to the desire of his enemies.

3 The LORD will sustain him upon his sickbed ; In his illness, You restore him to health .

4 As for me, I said, "O LORD , be gracious to me; Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You."

5 My enemies speak evil against me, "When will he die, and his name perish?"

6 And when he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood; His heart gathers wickedness to itself; When he goes outside, he tells it.

7 All who hate me whisper together against me; Against me they devise my hurt, saying,

8 "A wicked thing is poured out upon him, That when he lies down, he will not rise up again."

9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me.

10 But You, O LORD , be gracious to me and raise me up, That I may repay them.

11 By this I know that You are pleased with me, Because my enemy does not shout in triumph over me.

12 As for me, You uphold me in my integrity, And You set me in Your presence forever.

13 Blessed be the LORD , the God of Israel, From everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.

Psalms 42

1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God.

2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?

3 My tears have been my food day and night, While they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?"

4 These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.

5 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence.

6 O my God, my soul is in despair within me; Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.

7 Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.

8 The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; And His song will be with me in the night, A prayer to the God of my life.

9 I will say to God my rock, "Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?"

10 As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me, While they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?"

11 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.

Acts 27:1-26

1 When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, they proceeded to deliver Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan cohort named Julius.

2 And embarking in an Adramyttian ship, which was about to sail to the regions along the coast of Asia, we put out to sea accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica.

3 The next day we put in at Sidon; and Julius treated Paul with consideration and allowed him to go to his friends and receive care.

4 From there we put out to sea and sailed under the shelter of Cyprus because the winds were contrary.

5 When we had sailed through the sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we landed at Myra in Lycia.

6 There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy, and he put us aboard it.

7 When we had sailed slowly for a good many days, and with difficulty had arrived off Cnidus, since the wind did not permit us to go farther, we sailed under the shelter of Crete, off Salmone;

8 and with difficulty sailing past it we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea.

9 When considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, since even the fast was already over, Paul began to admonish them,

10 and said to them, "Men, I perceive that the voyage will certainly be with damage and great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives."

11 But the centurion was more persuaded by the pilot and the captain of the ship than by what was being said by Paul.

12 Because the harbor was not suitable for wintering, the majority reached a decision to put out to sea from there, if somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, facing southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.

13 When a moderate south wind came up, supposing that they had attained their purpose, they weighed anchor and began sailing along Crete, close inshore.

14 But before very long there rushed down from the land a violent wind, called Euraquilo;

15 and when the ship was caught in it and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and let ourselves be driven along.

16 Running under the shelter of a small island called Clauda, we were scarcely able to get the ship's boat under control.

17 After they had hoisted it up, they used supporting cables in undergirding the ship; and fearing that they might run aground on the shallows of Syrtis, they let down the sea anchor and in this way let themselves be driven along.

18 The next day as we were being violently storm-tossed, they began to jettison the cargo;

19 and on the third day they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands.

20 Since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm was assailing us, from then on all hope of our being saved was gradually abandoned.

21 When they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up in their midst and said, "Men, you ought to have followed my advice and not to have set sail from Crete and incurred this damage and loss.

22 "Yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.

23 "For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me,

24 saying, 'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.'

25 "Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told.

26 "But we must run aground on a certain island."