Psalms 43; Psalms 44; Psalms 45; Acts 27:27-44

1 God, defend me. Argue my case against those who don't follow you. Save me from liars and those who do evil.

2 God, you are my strength. Why have you rejected me? Why am I sad and troubled by my enemies?

3 Send me your light and truth to guide me. Let them lead me to your holy mountain, to where you live.

4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God who is my joy and happiness. I will praise you with a harp, God, my God.

5 Why am I so sad? Why am I so upset? and keep praising him, my Savior and my God.

1 God, we have heard about you. Our ancestors told us what you did in their days, in days long ago.

2 With your power you forced the nations out of the land and placed our ancestors here. You destroyed those other nations, but you made our ancestors grow strong.

3 It wasn't their swords that took the land. It wasn't their power that gave them victory. But it was your great power and strength. You were with them because you loved them.

4 My God, you are my King. Your commands led Jacob's people to victory.

5 With your help we pushed back our enemies. In your name we trampled those who came against us.

6 I don't trust my bow to help me, and my sword can't save me.

7 You saved us from our foes, and you made our enemies ashamed.

8 We will praise God every day; we will praise your name forever.Selah

9 But you have rejected us and shamed us. You don't march with our armies anymore.

10 You let our enemies push us back, and those who hate us have taken our wealth.

11 You gave us away like sheep to be eaten and have scattered us among the nations.

12 You sold your people for nothing and made no profit on the sale.

13 You made us a joke to our neighbors; those around us laugh and make fun of us.

14 You made us a joke to the other nations; people shake their heads.

15 I am always in disgrace, and I am covered with shame.

16 My enemy is getting even with insults and curses.

17 All these things have happened to us, but we have not forgotten you or failed to keep our agreement with you.

18 Our hearts haven't turned away from you, and we haven't stopped following you.

19 But you crushed us in this place where wild dogs live, and you covered us with deep darkness.

20 If we had forgotten our God or lifted our hands in prayer to foreign gods,

21 God would have known, because he knows what is in our hearts.

22 But for you we are in danger of death all the time. People think we are worth no more than sheep to be killed.

23 Wake up, Lord! Why are you sleeping? Get up! Don't reject us forever.

24 Why do you hide from us? Have you forgotten our pain and troubles?

25 We have been pushed down into the dirt; we are flat on the ground.

26 Get up and help us. Because of your love, save us.

1 Beautiful words fill my mind. I am speaking of royal things. My tongue is like the pen of a skilled writer.

2 You are more handsome than anyone, and you are an excellent speaker, so God has blessed you forever.

3 Put on your sword, powerful warrior. Show your glory and majesty.

4 In your majesty win the victory for what is true and right. Your power will do amazing things.

5 Your sharp arrows will enter the hearts of the king's enemies. Nations will be defeated before you.

6 God, your throne will last forever and ever. You will rule your kingdom with fairness.

7 You love right and hate evil, so God has chosen you from among your friends; he has set you apart with much joy.

8 Your clothes smell like myrrh, aloes, and cassia. From palaces of ivory music comes to make you happy.

9 Kings' daughters are among your honored women. Your bride stands at your right side wearing gold from Ophir.

10 Listen to me, daughter; look and pay attention. Forget your people and your father's family.

11 The king loves your beauty. Because he is your master, you should obey him.

12 People from the city of Tyre have brought a gift. Wealthy people will want to meet you.

13 The princess is very beautiful. Her gown is woven with gold.

14 In her beautiful clothes she is brought to the king. Her bridesmaids follow behind her, and they are also brought to him.

15 They come with happiness and joy; they enter the king's palace.

16 You will have sons to replace your fathers. You will make them rulers through all the land.

17 I will make your name famous from now on, so people will praise you forever and ever.

27 On the fourteenth night we were still being carried around in the Adriatic Sea. About midnight the sailors thought we were close to land,

28 so they lowered a rope with a weight on the end of it into the water. They found that the water was one hundred twenty feet deep. They went a little farther and lowered the rope again. It was ninety feet deep.

29 The sailors were afraid that we would hit the rocks, so they threw four anchors into the water and prayed for daylight to come.

30 Some of the sailors wanted to leave the ship, and they lowered the lifeboat, pretending they were throwing more anchors from the front of the ship.

31 But Paul told the officer and the other soldiers, "If these men do not stay in the ship, your lives cannot be saved."

32 So the soldiers cut the ropes and let the lifeboat fall into the water.

33 Just before dawn Paul began persuading all the people to eat something. He said, "For the past fourteen days you have been waiting and watching and not eating.

34 Now I beg you to eat something. You need it to stay alive. None of you will lose even one hair off your heads."

35 After he said this, Paul took some bread and thanked God for it before all of them. He broke off a piece and began eating.

36 They all felt better and started eating, too.

37 There were two hundred seventy-six people on the ship.

38 When they had eaten all they wanted, they began making the ship lighter by throwing the grain into the sea.

39 When daylight came, the sailors saw land. They did not know what land it was, but they saw a bay with a beach and wanted to sail the ship to the beach if they could.

40 So they cut the ropes to the anchors and left the anchors in the sea. At the same time, they untied the ropes that were holding the rudders. Then they raised the front sail into the wind and sailed toward the beach.

41 But the ship hit a sandbank. The front of the ship stuck there and could not move, but the back of the ship began to break up from the big waves.

42 The soldiers decided to kill the prisoners so none of them could swim away and escape.

43 But Julius, the officer, wanted to let Paul live and did not allow the soldiers to kill the prisoners. Instead he ordered everyone who could swim to jump into the water first and swim to land.

44 The rest were to follow using wooden boards or pieces of the ship. And this is how all the people made it safely to land.