Psalms 20; Psalms 21; Psalms 22; Acts 21:1-17

1 May the Lord answer you when you are in trouble! May the God of Jacob protect you!

2 May he send you help from his Temple and give you aid from Mount Zion.

3 May he accept all your offerings and be pleased with all your sacrifices.

4 May he give you what you desire and make all your plans succeed.

5 Then we will shout for joy over your victory and celebrate your triumph by praising our God. May the Lord answer all your requests.

6 Now I know that the Lord gives victory to his chosen king; he answers him from his holy heaven and by his power gives him great victories.

7 Some trust in their war chariots and others in their horses, but we trust in the power of the Lord our God.

8 Such people will stumble and fall, but we will rise and stand firm.

9 Give victory to the king, O Lord; answer us when we call.

1 The king is glad, O Lord, because you gave him strength; he rejoices because you made him victorious.

2 You have given him his heart's desire; you have answered his request.

3 You came to him with great blessings and set a crown of gold on his head.

4 He asked for life, and you gave it, a long and lasting life.

5 His glory is great because of your help; you have given him fame and majesty.

6 Your blessings are with him forever, and your presence fills him with joy.

7 The king trusts in the Lord Almighty; and because of the Lord's constant love he will always be secure.

8 The king will capture all his enemies; he will capture everyone who hates him.

9 He will destroy them like a blazing fire when he appears. The Lord will devour them in his anger, and fire will consume them.

10 None of their descendants will survive; the king will kill them all.

11 They make their plans, and plot against him, but they will not succeed.

12 He will shoot his arrows at them and make them turn and run.

13 We praise you, Lord, for your great strength! We will sing and praise your power.

1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? I have cried desperately for help, but still it does not come.

2 During the day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer; I call at night, but get no rest.

3 But you are enthroned as the Holy One, the one whom Israel praises.

4 Our ancestors put their trust in you; they trusted you, and you saved them.

5 They called to you and escaped from danger; they trusted you and were not disappointed.

6 But I am no longer a human being; I am a worm, despised and scorned by everyone!

7 All who see me make fun of me; they stick out their tongues and shake their heads.

8 "You relied on the Lord," they say. "Why doesn't he save you? If the Lord likes you, why doesn't he help you?"

9 It was you who brought me safely through birth, and when I was a baby, you kept me safe.

10 I have relied on you since the day I was born, and you have always been my God.

11 Do not stay away from me! Trouble is near, and there is no one to help.

12 Many enemies surround me like bulls; they are all around me, like fierce bulls from the land of Bashan.

13 They open their mouths like lions, roaring and tearing at me.

14 My strength is gone, gone like water spilled on the ground. All my bones are out of joint; my heart is like melted wax.

15 My throat is as dry as dust, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have left me for dead in the dust.

16 An evil gang is around me; like a pack of dogs they close in on me; they tear at my hands and feet.

17 All my bones can be seen. My enemies look at me and stare.

18 They gamble for my clothes and divide them among themselves.

19 O Lord, don't stay away from me! Come quickly to my rescue!

20 Save me from the sword; save my life from these dogs.

21 Rescue me from these lions; I am helpless before these wild bulls.

22 I will tell my people what you have done; I will praise you in their assembly:

23 "Praise him, you servants of the Lord! Honor him, you descendants of Jacob! Worship him, you people of Israel!

24 He does not neglect the poor or ignore their suffering; he does not turn away from them, but answers when they call for help."

25 In the full assembly I will praise you for what you have done; in the presence of those who worship you I will offer the sacrifices I promised.

26 The poor will eat as much as they want; those who come to the Lord will praise him. May they prosper forever!

27 All nations will remember the Lord. From every part of the world they will turn to him; all races will worship him.

28 The Lord is king, and he rules the nations.

29 All proud people will bow down to him; all mortals will bow down before him.

30 Future generations will serve him; they will speak of the Lord to the coming generation.

31 People not yet born will be told: "The Lord saved his people."

1 We said good-bye to them and left. After sailing straight across, we came to Cos; the next day we reached Rhodes, and from there we went on to Patara.

2 There we found a ship that was going to Phoenicia, so we went aboard and sailed away.

3 We came to where we could see Cyprus, and then sailed south of it on to Syria. We went ashore at Tyre, where the ship was going to unload its cargo.

4 There we found some believers and stayed with them a week. By the power of the Spirit they told Paul not to go to Jerusalem.

5 But when our time with them was over, we left and went on our way. All of them, together with their wives and children, went with us out of the city to the beach, where we all knelt and prayed.

6 Then we said good-bye to one another, and we went on board the ship while they went back home.

7 We continued our voyage, sailing from Tyre to Ptolemais, where we greeted the believers and stayed with them for a day.

8 On the following day we left and arrived in Caesarea. There we stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the seven men who had been chosen as helpers in Jerusalem.

9 He had four unmarried daughters who proclaimed God's message.

10 We had been there for several days when a prophet named Agabus arrived from Judea.

11 He came to us, took Paul's belt, tied up his own feet and hands with it, and said, "This is what the Holy Spirit says: The owner of this belt will be tied up in this way by the Jews in Jerusalem, and they will hand him over to the Gentiles."

12 When we heard this, we and the others there begged Paul not to go to Jerusalem.

13 But he answered, "What are you doing, crying like this and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be tied up in Jerusalem but even to die there for the sake of the Lord Jesus."

14 We could not convince him, so we gave up and said, "May the Lord's will be done."

15 After spending some time there, we got our things ready and left for Jerusalem.

16 Some of the disciples from Caesarea also went with us and took us to the house of the man we were going to stay with - Mnason, from Cyprus, who had been a believer since the early days.

17 When we arrived in Jerusalem, the believers welcomed us warmly.