Psalm 40-42

English Standard Version

My Help and My Deliverer

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

40 I ^(A)waited patiently for the Lord;
    he inclined to me and ^(B)heard my cry.
²He drew me up from ^(C)the pit of destruction,
    out of ^(D)the miry bog,
and ^(E)set my feet upon a rock,
    ^(F)making my steps secure.
³He put ^(G)a new song in my mouth,
    a song of praise to our God.
Many will ^(H)see and fear,
    and put their trust in the Lord.

⁴Blessed is the man who ^(I)makes
    the Lord his trust,
who does not turn to the proud,
    to those who ^(J)go astray after a lie!
⁵You have multiplied, O Lord my God,
    your ^(K)wondrous deeds and your ^(L)thoughts toward us;
    none can compare with you!
I will proclaim and tell of them,
    yet they are ^(M)more than can be told.

⁶^(N)In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,
    but you have given me an open ^(O)ear.^[a]
Burnt offering and sin offering
    you have not required.
⁷Then I said, “Behold, I have come;
    in the scroll of the book it is written ^(P)of me:
⁸^(Q)I delight to do your will, O my God;
    your law is ^(R)within my heart.”

⁹I have told the glad news of deliverance^[b]
    in ^(S)the great congregation;
behold, I have not ^(T)restrained my lips,
    ^(U)as you know, O Lord.
¹⁰I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;
    I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness
    from the great congregation.

¹¹As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain
    your mercy from me;
your ^(V)steadfast love and your faithfulness will
    ever preserve me!
¹²For evils have ^(W)encompassed me
    beyond number;
my ^(X)iniquities have overtaken me,
    and I cannot ^(Y)see;
they are ^(Z)more than the hairs of my head;
    my heart ^(AA)fails me.

¹³^(AB)Be pleased, O Lord, to ^(AC)deliver me!
    O Lord, ^(AD)make haste to help me!
¹⁴^(AE)Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether
    who seek to snatch away my life;
let those be ^(AF)turned back and brought to dishonor
    who delight in my hurt!
¹⁵Let those be appalled because of their shame
    who ^(AG)say to me, “Aha, Aha!”

¹⁶But may all who seek you
    rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation
    ^(AH)say continually, “Great is the Lord!”
¹⁷As for me, I am ^(AI)poor and needy,
    but ^(AJ)the Lord takes thought for me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
    do not delay, O my God!

O Lord, Be Gracious to Me

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

41 ^(AK)Blessed is the one who considers the poor!^[c]
    ^(AL)In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him;
²the Lord protects him and keeps him alive;
    he is called blessed in the land;
    you ^(AM)do not give him up to the will of his enemies.
³The Lord sustains him on his sickbed;
    in his illness you restore him to full health.^[d]

⁴As for me, I said, “O Lord, ^(AN)be gracious to me;
    ^(AO)heal me,^[e] for I have sinned against you!”
⁵My enemies say of me in malice,
    “When will he die, and his name perish?”
⁶And when one comes to see me, ^(AP)he utters empty words,
    while his heart gathers iniquity;
    when he goes out, he tells it abroad.
⁷All who hate me whisper together about me;
    they imagine the worst for me.^[f]

⁸They say, “A deadly thing is poured out^[g] on him;
    he will not rise again from where he lies.”
⁹Even my ^(AQ)close friend in whom I trusted,
    who ^(AR)ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
¹⁰But you, O Lord, be gracious to me,
    and raise me up, that I may repay them!

¹¹By this I know that ^(AS)you delight in me:
my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.
¹²But ^(AT)you have upheld me because of ^(AU)my integrity,
and ^(AV)set me in your presence ^(AW)forever.

¹³^(AX)Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting!
Amen and Amen.

Book Two

Why Are You Cast Down, O My Soul?

To the choirmaster. A Maskil^[h] of ^(AY)the Sons of Korah.

42 ^(AZ)As a deer pants for flowing streams,
    so pants my soul for you, O God.
²^(BA)My soul thirsts for God,
    for ^(BB)the living God.
When shall I come and ^(BC)appear before God?^[i]
³^(BD)My tears have been my food
    day and night,
^(BE)while they say to me all the day long,
    “Where is your God?”
⁴These things I remember,
    as I ^(BF)pour out my soul:
^(BG)how I would go ^(BH)with the throng
    and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
    ^(BI)a multitude keeping festival.

⁵^(BJ)Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you ^(BK)in turmoil within me?
^(BL)Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation^[j] ⁶and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;
    therefore I ^(BM)remember you
^(BN)from the land of Jordan and of ^(BO)Hermon,
    from Mount Mizar.
⁷Deep calls to deep
    at the roar of your waterfalls;
^(BP)all your breakers and your ^(BQ)waves
    have gone over me.
⁸By day the Lord ^(BR)commands his steadfast love,
    and at ^(BS)night his song is with me,
    a prayer to the God of my life.
⁹I say to God, ^(BT)my rock:
    “Why have you forgotten me?
^(BU)Why do I go mourning
    because of the oppression of the enemy?”
¹⁰As with a deadly wound in my bones,
    my adversaries taunt me,
^(BV)while they say to me all the day long,
    “Where is your God?”

¹¹^(BW)Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.

Footnotes

Psalm 40:6 Hebrew ears you have dug for me
Psalm 40:9 Hebrew righteousness; also verse 10
Psalm 41:1 Or weak
Psalm 41:3 Hebrew you turn all his bed
Psalm 41:4 Hebrew my soul
Psalm 41:7 Or they devise evil against me
Psalm 41:8 Or has fastened
Psalm 42:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
Psalm 42:2 Revocalization yields and see the face of God
Psalm 42:5 Hebrew the salvation of my face; also verse 11 and 43:5

Acts 27:1-26

English Standard Version

Paul Sails for Rome

27 And when it was decided ^(A)that ^(B)we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan ^(C)Cohort named Julius. ²And embarking in a ship of Adramyttium, which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, we put to sea, accompanied by ^(D)Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. ³The next day we put in at Sidon. And ^(E)Julius ^(F)treated Paul kindly and ^(G)gave him leave to go to his friends and be cared for. ⁴And putting out to sea from there we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us. ⁵And when we had sailed across the open sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia. ⁶There the centurion found ^(H)a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy and put us on board. ⁷We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, and as the wind did not allow us to go farther, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone. ⁸Coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea.

⁹Since much time had passed, and the voyage was now dangerous because even ^(I)the Fast^[a] was already over, Paul advised them, ¹⁰saying, “Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with ^(J)injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” ¹¹But the centurion paid more attention to ^(K)the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. ¹²And because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there, on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, facing both southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.

The Storm at Sea

¹³Now when the south wind blew gently, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to the shore. ¹⁴But soon a tempestuous wind, called the northeaster, ^(L)struck down from the land. ¹⁵And when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along. ¹⁶Running under the lee of a small island called Cauda,^[b] we managed with difficulty to secure the ship's boat. ¹⁷After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship. Then, fearing that they would ^(M)run aground on the Syrtis, they lowered the gear,^[c] and thus they were driven along. ¹⁸Since we were violently storm-tossed, they began the next day ^(N)to jettison the cargo. ¹⁹And on the third day they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. ²⁰When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.

²¹Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, ^(O)you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this ^(P)injury and loss. ²²Yet now I urge you to ^(Q)take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. ²³For this very night ^(R)there ^(S)stood before me ^(T)an angel of the God ^(U)to whom I belong and ^(V)whom I worship, ²⁴and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; ^(W)you must stand before Caesar. And behold, ^(X)God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ ²⁵So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. ²⁶But ^(Y)we must ^(Z)run aground on some island.”