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

1 God, when you hand down your decision, let it be in my favor. Stand up for me against an ungodly nation. Save me from those lying and sinful people.

2 You are God, my place of safety. Why have you turned your back on me? Why must I go around in sorrow? Why am I beaten down by my enemies?

3 Send out your light and your truth. Let them guide me. Let them bring me back to your holy mountain, to the place where you live.

4 Then I will go to the altar of God. I will go to God. He is my joy and my delight. God, you are my God. I will praise you by playing the harp.

5 My spirit, why are you so sad? Why are you so upset deep down inside me? Put your hope in God. Once again I will have reason to praise him. He is my Savior and my God.

1 God, we have heard what you did. Those who came before us have told us what you did in their days, in days long ago.

2 With your powerful hand you drove out the nations. You settled our people in the land. You crushed the people who were there. And you made our people do well.

3 They didn't win the land with their swords. They didn't gain success with their powerful arms. Your powerful right hand and your mighty arm gave them success. You looked on them with favor. You loved them.

4 You are my King and my God. You give success to the people of Jacob.

5 With your help we push our enemies back. By your power we walk all over them.

6 I don't trust in my bow. My sword doesn't bring me success.

7 But you give us success over our enemies. You put them to shame.

8 All day long we talk about how great God is. We will praise your name forever. "Selah"

9 But now you have turned your back on us and made us low. You don't march out with our armies anymore.

10 You made us turn and run from our enemies. They have taken what belongs to us.

11 You handed us over to be eaten up like sheep. You have scattered us among the nations.

12 You sold your people for very little. You didn't gain anything when you sold them.

13 You have made us something that our neighbors laugh at. Those who live around us make fun of us and tease us.

14 The nations make jokes about us. They shake their heads at us.

15 All day long I am reminded of my shame. My face is covered with it

16 because of those who laugh at me and attack me with their words. They want to get even with me.

17 All of this happened to us, even though we had not forgotten you. We had been true to the covenant you made with us.

18 Our hearts had not turned away from you. Our feet had not wandered from your path.

19 But you crushed us and left us to the wild dogs. You covered us over with deep darkness.

20 We didn't forget our God. We didn't spread out our hands in prayer to a strange god.

21 If we had, God would have discovered it. He knows the secrets of our hearts.

22 But because of you, we face death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be killed.

23 Lord, wake up! Why are you sleeping? Get up! Don't say no to us forever.

24 Why do you turn your face away from us? Why do you forget our pain and troubles?

25 We are brought down to the dust. Our bodies lie flat on the ground.

26 Rise up and help us. Save us because of your faithful love.

1 My heart is full of beautiful words as I say my poem for the king. My tongue is like the pen of a skillful writer.

2 You are the most excellent of men. Your lips have been given the ability to speak gracious words. God has blessed you forever.

3 Mighty one, put your sword at your side. Put on glory and majesty as if they were your clothes.

4 In your majesty ride out with power in honor of what is true and right. Do it in honor of all those who are not proud. Let your right hand do wonderful things.

5 Shoot your sharp arrows into the hearts of your enemies. Let the nations come under your control.

6 Your throne is the very throne of God. Your kingdom will last for ever and ever. You will rule by treating everyone fairly.

7 You love what is right and hate what is evil. So your God has placed you above your companions. He has filled you with joy by pouring the sacred oil on your head.

8 Myrrh and aloes and cassia make all of your robes smell good. In palaces decorated with ivory the music played on stringed instruments makes you glad.

9 Daughters of kings are among the women you honor. At your right hand is the royal bride dressed in gold from Ophir.

10 Royal bride, listen. Think about this and pay attention to it. Forget about your people and the home you came from.

11 The king is charmed by your beauty. Honor him. He is now your master.

12 The people of Tyre will come with gifts. Wealthy people will try to gain your favor.

13 The princess comes into the palace in all her glory. Her gown has gold threads running through it.

14 Dressed in beautiful clothes, she is led to the king. Her virgin companions follow her and are brought to him.

15 They are led in with joy and gladness. They enter the palace of the king.

16 Your sons will rule just as your father and grandfather did. You will make them princes through the whole land.

17 I will make sure that people will always remember you. The nations will praise you for ever and ever.

27 On the 14th night we were still being driven across the Sea of Adria. About midnight the sailors had a feeling that they were approaching land.

28 They measured how deep the water was. They found that it was 120 feet deep. A short time later they measured the water again. This time it was 90 feet deep.

29 They were afraid we would crash against the rocks. So they dropped four anchors from the back of the ship. They prayed that daylight would come.

30 The sailors wanted to escape from the ship. So they let the lifeboat down into the sea. They pretended they were going to lower some anchors from the front of the ship.

31 But Paul spoke to the commander and the soldiers. "These men must stay with the ship," he said. "If they don't, you can't be saved."

32 So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat. They let it drift away.

33 Just before dawn Paul tried to get them all to eat. "For the last 14 days," he said, "you have wondered what would happen. You have gone without food. You haven't eaten anything.

34 Now I am asking you to eat some food. You need it to live. Not one of you will lose a single hair from your head."

35 After Paul said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God. He did this where they all could see him. Then he broke it and began to eat.

36 All of them were filled with hope. So they ate some food.

37 There were 276 of us on board.

38 They ate as much as they wanted. They needed to make the ship lighter. So they threw the rest of the grain into the sea.

39 When daylight came, they saw a bay with a sandy beach. They didn't recognize the place. But they decided to run the ship onto the beach if they could.

40 So they cut the anchors loose and left them in the sea. At the same time, they untied the ropes that held the rudders. They lifted the sail at the front of the ship to the wind. Then they headed for the beach.

41 But the ship hit a sandbar. So the front of it got stuck and wouldn't move. The back of the ship was broken to pieces by the pounding of the waves.

42 The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners. They wanted to keep them from swimming away and escaping.

43 But the commander wanted to save Paul's life. So he kept the soldiers from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and swim to land.

44 The rest were supposed to get there on boards or other pieces of the ship. That is how everyone reached land safely.