Psalms 7; Psalms 8; Psalms 9; Acts 18

1 O LORD my God, I have taken refuge in you. Save me, and rescue me from all who are pursuing me.

2 Like a lion they will tear me to pieces and drag me off with no one to rescue me.

3 O LORD my God, if I have done this-- if my hands are stained with injustice,

4 if I have paid back my friend with evil or rescued someone who has no reason to attack me--

5 then let the enemy chase me and catch me. Let him trample my life into the ground. Let him lay my honor in the dust. Selah

6 Arise in anger, O LORD. Stand up against the fury of my attackers. Wake up, my God. You have already pronounced judgment.

7 Let an assembly of people gather around you. Take your seat high above them.

8 The LORD judges the people of the world. Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, according to my integrity.

9 Let the evil within wicked people come to an end, but make the righteous person secure, O righteous God who examines thoughts and emotions.

10 My shield is God above, who saves those whose motives are decent.

11 God is a fair judge, a God who is angered by injustice every day.

12 If a person does not change, God sharpens his sword. By bending his bow, he makes it ready [to shoot].

13 He prepares his deadly weapons and turns them into flaming arrows.

14 See how that person conceives evil, is pregnant with harm, and gives birth to lies.

15 He digs a pit and shovels it out. Then he falls into the hole that he made [for others].

16 His mischief lands back on his own head. His violence comes down on top of him.

17 I will give thanks to the LORD for his righteousness. I will make music to praise the name of the LORD Most High.

1 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the earth! Your glory is sung above the heavens.

2 From the mouths of little children and infants, you have built a fortress against your opponents to silence the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I look at your heavens, the creation of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have set in place--

4 what is a mortal that you remember him or the Son of Man that you take care of him?

5 You have made him a little lower than yourself. You have crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You have made him rule what your hands created. You have put everything under his control:

7 all the sheep and cattle, the wild animals,

8 the birds, the fish, whatever swims in the currents of the seas.

9 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the earth!

1 I will give [you] thanks, O LORD, with all my heart. I will tell about all the miracles you have done.

2 I will find joy and be glad about you. I will make music to praise your name, O Most High.

3 When my enemies retreat, they will stumble and die in your presence.

4 You have defended my just cause: You sat down on your throne as a fair judge.

5 You condemned nations. You destroyed wicked people. You wiped out their names forever and ever.

6 The enemy is finished--in ruins forever. You have uprooted their cities. Even the memory of them has faded.

7 Yet, the LORD is enthroned forever. He has set up his throne for judgment.

8 He alone judges the world with righteousness. He judges [its] people fairly.

9 The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

10 Those who know your name trust you, O LORD, because you have never deserted those who seek your help.

11 Make music to praise the LORD, who is enthroned in Zion. Announce to the nations what he has done.

12 The one who avenges murder has remembered oppressed people. He has never forgotten their cries.

13 Have pity on me, O LORD. Look at what I suffer because of those who hate me. You take me away from the gates of death

14 so that I may recite your praises one by one in the gates of Zion and find joy in your salvation.

15 The nations have sunk into the pit they have made. Their feet are caught in the net they have hidden [to trap others].

16 The LORD is known by the judgment he has carried out. The wicked person is trapped by the work of his own hands. Higgaion Selah

17 Wicked people, all the nations who forget God, will return to the grave.

18 Needy people will not always be forgotten. Nor will the hope of oppressed people be lost forever.

19 Arise, O LORD. Do not let mortals gain any power. Let the nations be judged in your presence.

20 Strike them with terror, O LORD. Let the nations know that they are [only] mortal. Selah

1 After this, Paul left Athens and went to the city of Corinth.

2 In Corinth he met a Jewish man named Aquila and his wife Priscilla. Aquila had been born in Pontus, and they had recently come from Italy because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to visit them,

3 and because they made tents for a living as he did, he stayed with them and they worked together.

4 On every day of worship, Paul would discuss [Scripture] in the synagogue. He tried to win over Jews and Greeks who had converted to Judaism.

5 But when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted all his time to teaching the word of God. He assured the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.

6 But they opposed him and insulted him. So Paul shook the dust from his clothes and told them, "You're responsible for your own death. I'm innocent. From now on I'm going to people who are not Jewish."

7 Then he left the synagogue and went to the home of a man named Titius Justus, who was a convert to Judaism. His house was next door to the synagogue.

8 The synagogue leader Crispus and his whole family believed in the Lord. Many Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.

9 One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, "Don't be afraid to speak out! Don't be silent!

10 I'm with you. No one will attack you or harm you. I have many people in this city."

11 Paul lived in Corinth for a year and a half and taught the word of God to them.

12 While Gallio was governor of Greece, the Jews had one thought in mind. They attacked Paul and brought him to court.

13 They said, "This man is persuading people to worship God in ways that are against Moses' Teachings."

14 Paul was about to answer when Gallio said to the Jews, "If there were some kind of misdemeanor or crime involved, reason would demand that I put up with you Jews.

15 But since you're disputing words, names, and your own teachings, you'll have to take care of that yourselves. I don't want to be a judge who gets involved in those things."

16 So Gallio had them forced out of his court.

17 Then all [the governor's officers] took Sosthenes, the synagogue leader, and beat him in front of the court. But Gallio couldn't have cared less.

18 After staying in Corinth quite a while longer, Paul left [for Ephesus]. Priscilla and Aquila went with him. In the city of Cenchrea, Aquila had his hair cut, since he had taken a vow. From Cenchrea they took a boat headed for Syria

19 and arrived in the city of Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. Paul went into the synagogue and had a discussion with the Jews.

20 The Jews asked him to stay longer, but he refused.

21 As he left, he told them, "I'll come back to visit you if God wants me to." Paul took a boat from Ephesus

22 and arrived in the city of Caesarea. He went [to Jerusalem], greeted the church, and went back to the city of Antioch.

23 After spending some time in Antioch, Paul went through the regions of Galatia and Phrygia, where he strengthened [the faith of] all the disciples.

24 A Jew named Apollos, who had been born in Alexandria, arrived in the city of Ephesus. He was an eloquent speaker and knew how to use the Scriptures in a powerful way.

25 He had been instructed in the Lord's way and spoke enthusiastically. He accurately taught about Jesus but knew only about the baptism John performed.

26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him [home] with them and explained God's way to him more accurately.

27 When Apollos wanted to travel to Greece, the believers [in Ephesus] encouraged him. They wrote to the disciples in Greece to tell them to welcome him. When he arrived in Greece, God's kindness enabled him to help the believers a great deal.

28 In public Apollos helped them by clearly showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah and that the Jews were wrong.