Psalms 31; Psalms 32; Acts 23:16-35

Psalms 31

1 (30-1) <Unto the end, a psalm for David, in an ecstasy.> (30-2) In thee, O Lord, have I hoped, let me never be confounded: deliver me in thy justice.

2 (30-3) Bow down thy ear to me: make haste to deliver me. Be thou unto me a God, a protector, and a house of refuge, to save me.

3 (30-4) For thou art my strength and my refuge; and for thy name’s sake thou wilt lead me, and nourish me.

4 (30-5) Thou wilt bring me out of this snare, which they have hidden for me: for thou art my protector.

5 (30-6) Into thy hands I commend my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth.

6 (30-7) Thou hast hated them that regard vanities, to no purpose. But I have hoped in the Lord:

7 (30-8) I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy. For thou hast regarded my humility, thou hast saved my soul out of distresses.

8 (30-9) And thou hast not shut me up in the hands of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a spacious place.

9 (30-10) Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am afflicted: my eye is troubled with wrath, my soul, and my belly:

10 (30-11) For my life is wasted with grief: and my years in sighs. My strength is weakened through poverty and my bones are disturbed.

11 (30-12) I am become a reproach among all my enemies, and very much to my neighbours; and a fear to my acquaintance. They that saw me without fled from me.

12 (30-13) I am forgotten as one dead from the heart. I am become as a vessel that is destroyed.

13 (30-14) For I have heard the blame of many that dwell round about. While they assembled together against me, they consulted to take away my life.

14 (30-15) But I have put my trust in thee, O Lord: I said: Thou art my God.

15 (30-16) My lots are in thy hands. Deliver me out of the hands of my enemies; and from them that persecute me.

16 (30-17) Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; save me in thy mercy.

17 (30-18) Let me not be confounded, O Lord, for I have called upon thee. Let the wicked be ashamed, and be brought down to hell.

18 (30-19) Let deceitful lips be made dumb. Which speak iniquity against the just, with pride and abuse.

19 (30-20) O how great is the multitude of thy sweetness, O Lord, which thou hast hidden for them that fear thee! Which thou hast wrought for them that hope in thee, in the sight of the sons of men.

20 (30-21) Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy face, from the disturbance of men. Thou shalt protect them in thy tabernacle form the contradiction of tongues.

21 (30-22) Blessed be the Lord, for he hath shewn his wonderful mercy to me in a fortified city.

22 (30-23) But I said in the excess of my mind: I am cast away from before thy eyes. Therefore thou hast heard the voice of my prayer, when I cried to thee.

23 (30-24) O love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord will require truth, and will repay them abundantly that act proudly.

24 (30-25) Do ye manfully, and let your heart be strengthened, all ye that hope in the Lord.

Psalms 32

1 (31-1) <To David himself, understanding.> Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.

2 (31-2) Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

3 (31-3) Because I was silent my bones grew old; whilst I cried out all the day long.

4 (31-4) For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: I am turned in my anguish, whilst the thorn is fastened.

5 (31-5) I have acknowledged my sin to thee, and my injustice I have not concealed. I said I will confess against my self my injustice to the Lord: and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin.

6 (31-6) For this shall every one that is holy pray to thee in a seasonable time. And yet in a flood of many waters, they shall not come nigh unto him.

7 (31-7) Thou art my refuge from the trouble which hath encompassed me: my joy, deliver me from them that surround me.

8 (31-8) I will give thee understanding, and I will instruct thee in this way, in which thou shalt go: I will fix my eyes upon thee.

9 (31-9) Do not become like the horse and the mule, who have no understanding. With bit and bridle bind fast their jaws, who come not near unto thee.

10 (31-10) Many are the scourges of the sinner, but mercy shall encompass him that hopeth in the Lord.

11 (31-11) Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye just, and glory, all ye right of heart.

Acts 23:16-35

16 Which when Paul’s sister’s son had heard, of their lying in wait, he came and entered into the castle and told Paul.

17 And Paul, calling to him one of the centurions, said: Bring this young man to the tribune: for he hath some thing to tell him.

18 And he, taking him, brought him to the tribune and said: Paul, the prisoner, desired me to bring this young man unto thee, who hath some thing to say to thee.

19 And the tribune, taking him by the hand, went aside with him privately and asked him: What is it that thou hast to tell me

20 And he said: The Jews have agreed to desire thee that thou wouldst bring forth Paul to-morrow into the council, as if they meant to inquire some thing more certain touching him.

21 But do not thou give credit to them: for there lie in wait for him more than forty men of them, who have bound themselves by oath neither to eat nor to drink, till they have killed him. And they are now ready, looking for a promise from thee

22 The tribune therefore dismissed the young man, charging him that he should tell no man that he had made known these things unto him.

23 Then having called two centurions, he said to them: Make ready two hundred soldiers to go as far as Caesarea: and seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen, for the third hour of the night.

24 And provide beasts, that they may set Paul on and bring him safe to Felix the governor.

25 (For he feared lest perhaps the Jews might take him away by force and kill him: and he should afterwards be slandered, as if he was to take money.) And he wrote a letter after this manner:

26 Claudius Lysias to the most excellent governor, Felix, greeting:

27 This man, being taken by the Jews and ready to be killed by them, I rescued, coming in with an army, understanding that he is a Roman.

28 And meaning to know the cause which they objected unto him, I brought him forth into their council.

29 Whom I found to be accused concerning questions of their law; but having nothing laid to his charge worthy of death or of bands.

30 And when I was told of ambushes that they had prepared for him, I sent him to thee, signifying also to his accusers to plead before thee. Farewell.

31 Then the soldiers, according as it was commanded them, taking Paul, brought him by night to Antipatris.

32 And the next day, leaving the horsemen to go with him, they returned to the castle.

33 Who, when they were come to Caesarea and had delivered the letter to the governor, did also present Paul before him.

34 And when he had read it and had asked of what province he was and understood that he was of Cilicia:

35 I will hear thee, said he, when thy accusers come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod’s judgment hall.