Psalms 7; Psalms 8; Psalms 9; Acts 18

1 O Lord, my God, I come to you for protection; rescue me and save me from all who pursue me,

2 or else like a lion they will carry me off where no one can save me, and there they will tear me to pieces.

3 O Lord, my God, if I have wronged anyone, if I have betrayed a friend or without cause done violence to my enemy - if I have done any of these things -

5 then let my enemies pursue me and catch me, let them cut me down and kill me and leave me lifeless on the ground!

6 Rise in your anger, O Lord! Stand up against the fury of my enemies; rouse yourself and help me! Justice is what you demand,

7 so bring together all the peoples around you, and rule over them from above.

8 You are the judge of all people. Judge in my favor, O Lord; you know that I am innocent.

9 You are a righteous God and judge our thoughts and desires. Stop the wickedness of evildoers and reward those who are good.

10 God is my protector; he saves those who obey him.

11 God is a righteous judge and always condemns the wicked.

12 If they do not change their ways, God will sharpen his sword. He bends his bow and makes it ready;

13 he takes up his deadly weapons and aims his burning arrows.

14 See how wicked people think up evil; they plan trouble and practice deception.

15 But in the traps they set for others, they themselves get caught.

16 So they are punished by their own evil and are hurt by their own violence.

17 I thank the Lord for his justice; I sing praises to the Lord, the Most High.

1 O Lord, our Lord, your greatness is seen in all the world! Your praise reaches up to the heavens;

2 it is sung by children and babies. You are safe and secure from all your enemies; you stop anyone who opposes you.

3 When I look at the sky, which you have made, at the moon and the stars, which you set in their places -

4 what are human beings, that you think of them; mere mortals, that you care for them?

5 Yet you made them inferior only to yourself; you crowned them with glory and honor.

6 You appointed them rulers over everything you made; you placed them over all creation:

7 sheep and cattle, and the wild animals too;

8 the birds and the fish and the creatures in the seas.

9 O Lord, our Lord, your greatness is seen in all the world!

1 I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the wonderful things you have done.

2 I will sing with joy because of you. I will sing praise to you, Almighty God.

3 My enemies turn back when you appear; they fall down and die.

4 You are fair and honest in your judgments, and you have judged in my favor.

5 You have condemned the heathen and destroyed the wicked; they will be remembered no more.

6 Our enemies are finished forever; you have destroyed their cities, and they are completely forgotten.

7 But the Lord is king forever; he has set up his throne for judgment.

8 He rules the world with righteousness; he judges the nations with justice.

9 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a place of safety in times of trouble.

10 Those who know you, Lord, will trust you; you do not abandon anyone who comes to you.

11 Sing praise to the Lord, who rules in Zion! Tell every nation what he has done!

12 God remembers those who suffer; he does not forget their cry, and he punishes those who wrong them.

13 Be merciful to me, O Lord! See the sufferings my enemies cause me! Rescue me from death, O Lord,

14 that I may stand before the people of Jerusalem and tell them all the things for which I praise you. I will rejoice because you saved me.

15 The heathen have dug a pit and fallen in; they have been caught in their own trap.

16 The Lord has revealed himself by his righteous judgments, and the wicked are trapped by their own deeds.

17 Death is the destiny of all the wicked, of all those who reject God.

18 The needy will not always be neglected; the hope of the poor will not be crushed forever.

19 Come, Lord! Do not let anyone defy you! Bring the heathen before you and pronounce judgment on them.

20 Make them afraid, O Lord; make them know that they are only mortal beings.

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

2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, for Emperor Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them,

3 and stayed and worked with them, because he earned his living by making tents, just as they did.

4 He held discussions in the synagogue every Sabbath, trying to convince both Jews and Greeks.

5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul gave his whole time to preaching the message, testifying to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.

6 When they opposed him and said evil things about him, he protested by shaking the dust from his clothes and saying to them, "If you are lost, you yourselves must take the blame for it! I am not responsible. From now on I will go to the Gentiles."

7 So he left them and went to live in the house of a Gentile named Titius Justus, who worshiped God; his house was next to the synagogue.

8 Crispus, who was the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with all his family; and many other people in Corinth heard the message, believed, and were baptized.

9 One night Paul had a vision in which the Lord said to him, "Do not be afraid, but keep on speaking and do not give up,

10 for I am with you. No one will be able to harm you, for many in this city are my people."

11 So Paul stayed there for a year and a half, teaching the people the word of God.

12 When Gallio was made the Roman governor of Achaia, Jews there got together, seized Paul, and took him into court.

13 "This man," they said, "is trying to persuade people to worship God in a way that is against the law!"

14 Paul was about to speak when Gallio said to the Jews, "If this were a matter of some evil crime or wrong that has been committed, it would be reasonable for me to be patient with you Jews.

15 But since it is an argument about words and names and your own law, you yourselves must settle it. I will not be the judge of such things!"

16 And he drove them out of the court.

17 They all grabbed Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the court. But that did not bother Gallio a bit.

18 Paul stayed on with the believers in Corinth for many days, then left them and sailed off with Priscilla and Aquila for Syria. Before sailing from Cenchreae he had his head shaved because of a vow he had taken.

19 They arrived in Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He went into the synagogue and held discussions with the Jews.

20 The people asked him to stay longer, but he would not consent.

21 Instead, he told them as he left, "If it is the will of God, I will come back to you." And so he sailed from Ephesus.

22 When he arrived at Caesarea, he went to Jerusalem and greeted the church, and then went to Antioch.

23 After spending some time there, he left and went through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the believers.

24 At that time a Jew named Apollos, who had been born in Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent speaker and had a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures.

25 He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord, and with great enthusiasm he proclaimed and taught correctly the facts about Jesus. However, he knew only the baptism of John.

26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him home with them and explained to him more correctly the Way of God.

27 Apollos then decided to go to Achaia, so the believers in Ephesus helped him by writing to the believers in Achaia, urging them to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who through God's grace had become believers.

28 For with his strong arguments he defeated the Jews in public debates by proving from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.