¹⁹ But when her owners discovered that their hope of profit was gone, they caught hold of Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities in the forum (marketplace), [where trials are held].

²⁰ And when they had brought them before the magistrates, they declared, These fellows are Jews and they are throwing our city into great confusion.

²¹ They encourage the practice of customs which it is unlawful for us Romans to accept or observe!

²² The crowd [also] joined in the attack upon them, and the rulers tore the clothes off of them and commanded that they be beaten with rods.

²³ And when they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely.

²⁴ He, having received [so strict a] charge, put them into the inner prison (the dungeon) and fastened their feet in the stocks.

²⁵ But about midnight, as Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the [other] prisoners were listening to them,

²⁶ Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the very foundations of the prison were shaken; and at once all the doors were opened and everyone’s shackles were unfastened.

²⁷ When the jailer, startled out of his sleep, saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was on the point of killing himself, because he supposed that the prisoners had escaped.

²⁸ But Paul shouted, Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!

Psalm 7

An Ode of David, [probably] in a wild, irregular, enthusiastic strain, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjamite.

¹ O Lord my God, in You I take refuge and put my trust; save me from all those who pursue and persecute me, and deliver me,

² Lest my foe tear my life [from my body] like a lion, dragging me away while there is none to deliver.

³ O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands,

⁴ If I have paid back with evil him who was at peace with me or without cause have robbed him who was my enemy,

⁵ Let the enemy pursue my life and take it; yes, let him trample my life to the ground and lay my honor in the dust. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁶ Arise, O Lord, in Your anger; lift up Yourself against the rage of my enemies; and awake [and stir up] for me the justice and vindication [that] You have commanded.

⁷ Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about You, and return on high over them.

⁸ The Lord judges the people; judge me, O Lord, and do me justice according to my righteousness [my rightness, justice, and right standing with You] and according to the integrity that is in me.

⁹ Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the [uncompromisingly] righteous [those upright and in harmony with You]; for You, Who try the hearts and emotions and thinking powers, are a righteous God.^(A)

¹⁰ My defense and shield depend on God, Who saves the upright in heart.

¹¹ God is a righteous Judge, yes, a God Who is indignant every day.

¹² If a man does not turn and repent, [God] will whet His sword; He has strung and bent His [huge] bow and made it ready [by treading it with His foot].

¹³ He has also prepared for him deadly weapons; He makes His arrows fiery shafts.

¹⁴ Behold, [the wicked man] conceives iniquity and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies.

¹⁵ He made a pit and hollowed it out and has fallen into the hole which he made [before the trap was completed].

¹⁶ His mischief shall fall back in return upon his own head, and his violence come down [with the loose dirt] upon his own scalp.

¹⁷ I will give to the Lord the thanks due to His rightness and justice, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.

Psalm 8

To the Chief Musician; set to a Philistine lute, or [possibly] to a particular Hittite tune. A Psalm of David.

¹ O Lord, our Lord, how excellent (majestic and glorious) is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory on [or above] the heavens.

² Out of the mouths of babes and unweaned infants You have established strength because of Your foes, that You might silence the enemy and the avenger.^(B)

³ When I view and consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained and established,

⁴ What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of [earthborn] man that You care for him?

⁵ Yet You have made him but a little lower than God [or heavenly beings], and You have crowned him with glory and honor.

⁶ You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet:^(C)

⁷ All sheep and oxen, yes, and the beasts of the field,

⁸ The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

⁹ O Lord, our Lord, how excellent (majestic and glorious) is Your name in all the earth!