Psalms 29; Psalms 30; Acts 23:1-15

1 Praise the Lord, you angels; praise the Lord's glory and power.

2 Praise the Lord for the glory of his name; worship the Lord because he is holy.

3 The Lord's voice is heard over the sea. The glorious God thunders; the Lord thunders over the ocean.

4 The Lord's voice is powerful; the Lord's voice is majestic.

5 The Lord's voice breaks the trees; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.

6 He makes the land of Lebanon dance like a calf and Mount Hermon jump like a baby bull.

7 The Lord's voice makes the lightning flash.

8 The Lord's voice shakes the desert; the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.

9 The Lord's voice shakes the oaks and strips the leaves off the trees. In his Temple everyone says, "Glory to God!"

10 The Lord controls the flood. The Lord will be King forever.

11 The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace. A psalm of David. A song for giving the Temple to the Lord.

1 I will praise you, Lord, because you rescued me. You did not let my enemies laugh at me.

2 Lord, my God, I prayed to you, and you healed me.

3 You lifted me out of the grave; you spared me from going down to the place of the dead.

4 Sing praises to the Lord, you who belong to him; praise his holy name.

5 His anger lasts only a moment, but his kindness lasts for a lifetime. Crying may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

6 When I felt safe, I said, "I will never fear."

7 Lord, in your kindness you made my mountain safe. But when you turned away, I was frightened.

8 I called to you, Lord, and asked you to have mercy on me.

9 I said, "What good will it do if I die or if I go down to the grave? Dust cannot praise you; it cannot speak about your truth.

10 Lord, hear me and have mercy on me. Lord, help me."

11 You changed my sorrow into dancing. You took away my clothes of sadness, and clothed me in happiness.

12 I will sing to you and not be silent. Lord, my God, I will praise you forever. For the director of music. A psalm of David.

1 Paul looked at the Jewish council and said, "Brothers, I have lived my life without guilt feelings before God up to this day."

2 Ananias, the high priest, heard this and told the men who were standing near Paul to hit him on the mouth.

3 Paul said to Ananias, "God will hit you, too! You are like a wall that has been painted white. You sit there and judge me, using the law of Moses, but you are telling them to hit me, and that is against the law."

4 The men standing near Paul said to him, "You cannot insult God's high priest like that!

5 Paul said, "Brothers, I did not know this man was the high priest. It is written in the Scriptures, 'You must not curse a leader of your people.'"

6 Some of the men in the meeting were Sadducees, and others were Pharisees. Knowing this, Paul shouted to them, "My brothers, I am a Pharisee, and my father was a Pharisee. I am on trial here because I believe that people will rise from the dead."

7 When Paul said this, there was an argument between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the group was divided.

8 (The Sadducees do not believe in angels or spirits or that people will rise from the dead. But the Pharisees believe in them all.)

9 So there was a great uproar. Some of the teachers of the law, who were Pharisees, stood up and argued, "We find nothing wrong with this man. Maybe an angel or a spirit did speak to him."

10 The argument was beginning to turn into such a fight that the commander was afraid the Jews would tear Paul to pieces. So he told the soldiers to go down and take Paul away and put him in the army building.

11 The next night the Lord came and stood by Paul. He said, "Be brave! You have told people in Jerusalem about me. You must do the same in Rome."

12 In the morning some of the Jews made a plan to kill Paul, and they took an oath not to eat or drink anything until they had killed him.

13 There were more than forty Jews who made this plan.

14 They went to the leading priests and the older Jewish leaders and said, "We have taken an oath not to eat or drink until we have killed Paul

15 So this is what we want you to do: Send a message to the commander to bring Paul out to you as though you want to ask him more questions. We will be waiting to kill him while he is on the way here."