15 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord, saying, I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider or its chariot has He thrown into the sea.

² The Lord is my Strength and my Song, and He has become my Salvation; this is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.

³ The Lord is a Man of War; the Lord is His name.

⁴ Pharaoh’s chariots and his host has He cast into the sea; his chosen captains also are sunk in the Red Sea.

⁵ The floods cover them; they sank in the depths [clad in mail] like a stone.

⁶ Your right hand, O Lord, is glorious in power; Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.

⁷ In the greatness of Your majesty You overthrow those rising against You. You send forth Your fury; it consumes them like stubble.

⁸ With the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up, the floods stood fixed in a heap, the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.

⁹ The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my desire shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.

¹⁰ You [Lord] blew with Your wind, the sea covered them; [clad in mail] they sank as lead in the mighty waters.

¹¹ Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders?

¹² You stretched out Your right hand, the earth’s [sea] swallowed them.

¹³ You in Your mercy and loving-kindness have led forth the people whom You have redeemed; You have guided them in Your strength to Your holy habitation.

¹⁴ The peoples have heard of it; they tremble; pangs have taken hold on the inhabitants of Philistia.

¹⁵ Now the chiefs of Edom are dismayed; the mighty men of Moab [renowned for strength], trembling takes hold of them; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away—little by little.

¹⁶ Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of Your arm they are as still as a stone—till Your people pass by and over [into Canaan], O Lord, till the people pass by whom You have purchased.

¹⁷ You will bring them in [to the land] and plant them on Your own mountain, the place, O Lord, You have made for Your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established.

¹⁸ The Lord will reign forever and ever.

¹⁹ For the horses of Pharaoh went with his chariots and horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the Israelites walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea.

²⁰ Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and dancing.

²¹ And Miriam responded to them, Sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously and is highly exalted; the horse and his rider He has thrown into the sea.

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Psalm 18

To the Chief Musician. [A Psalm] of David the servant of the Lord, who spoke the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said:

¹ I love You fervently and devotedly, O Lord, my Strength.

² The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress, and my Deliverer; my God, my keen and firm Strength in Whom I will trust and take refuge, my Shield, and the Horn of my salvation, my High Tower.^(A)

³ I will call upon the Lord, Who is to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies.^(B)

⁴ The cords or bands of death surrounded me, and the streams of ungodliness and the torrents of ruin terrified me.

⁵ The cords of Sheol (the place of the dead) surrounded me; the snares of death confronted and came upon me.

⁶ In my distress [when seemingly closed in] I called upon the Lord and cried to my God; He heard my voice out of His temple (heavenly dwelling place), and my cry came before Him, into His [very] ears.

⁷ Then the earth quaked and rocked, the foundations also of the mountains trembled; they moved and were shaken because He was indignant and angry.

⁸ There went up smoke from His nostrils; and lightning out of His mouth devoured; coals were kindled by it.

⁹ He bowed the heavens also and came down; and thick darkness was under His feet.

¹⁰ And He rode upon a cherub [a storm] and flew [swiftly]; yes, He sped on with the wings of the wind.

¹¹ He made darkness His secret hiding place; as His pavilion (His canopy) round about Him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

¹² Out of the brightness before Him there broke forth through His thick clouds hailstones and coals of fire.

¹³ The Lord also thundered from the heavens, and the Most High uttered His voice, amid hailstones and coals of fire.

¹⁴ And He sent out His arrows and scattered them; and He flashed forth lightnings and put them to rout.

¹⁵ Then the beds of the sea appeared and the foundations of the world were laid bare at Your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.

¹⁶ He reached from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters.

¹⁷ He delivered me from my strong enemy and from those who hated and abhorred me, for they were too strong for me.

¹⁸ They confronted and came upon me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay and support.

¹⁹ He brought me forth also into a large place; He was delivering me because He was pleased with me and delighted in me.

²⁰ The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness (my conscious integrity and sincerity with Him); according to the cleanness of my hands has He recompensed me.

²¹ For I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God.

²² For all His ordinances were before me, and I put not away His statutes from me.

²³ I was upright before Him and blameless with Him, ever [on guard] to keep myself free from my sin and guilt.

²⁴ Therefore has the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness (my uprightness and right standing with Him), according to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.

²⁵ With the kind and merciful You will show Yourself kind and merciful, with an upright man You will show Yourself upright,

²⁶ With the pure You will show Yourself pure, and with the perverse You will show Yourself contrary.

²⁷ For You deliver an afflicted and humble people but will bring down those with haughty looks.

²⁸ For You cause my lamp to be lighted and to shine; the Lord my God illumines my darkness.

²⁹ For by You I can run through a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.

³⁰ As for God, His way is perfect! The word of the Lord is tested and tried; He is a shield to all those who take refuge and put their trust in Him.

³¹ For who is God except the Lord? Or who is the Rock save our God,

³² The God who girds me with strength and makes my way perfect?

³³ He makes my feet like hinds’ feet [able to stand firmly or make progress on the dangerous heights of testing and trouble]; He sets me securely upon my high places.

³⁴ He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

³⁵ You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand has held me up; Your gentleness and condescension have made me great.

³⁶ You have given plenty of room for my steps under me, that my feet would not slip.

³⁷ I pursued my enemies and overtook them; neither did I turn again till they were consumed.

³⁸ I smote them so that they were not able to rise; they fell wounded under my feet.

³⁹ For You have girded me with strength for the battle; You have subdued under me and caused to bow down those who rose up against me.

⁴⁰ You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me.

⁴¹ They cried [for help], but there was none to deliver—even unto the Lord, but He answered them not.

⁴² Then I beat them small as the dust before the wind; I emptied them out as the dirt and mire of the streets.

⁴³ You have delivered me from the strivings of the people; You made me the head of the nations; a people I had not known served me.

⁴⁴ As soon as they heard of me, they obeyed me; foreigners submitted themselves cringingly and yielded feigned obedience to me.

⁴⁵ Foreigners lost heart and came trembling out of their caves or strongholds.

⁴⁶ The Lord lives! Blessed be my Rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted,

⁴⁷ The God Who avenges me and subdues peoples under me,

⁴⁸ Who delivers me from my enemies; yes, You lift me up above those who rise up against me; You deliver me from the man of violence.

⁴⁹ Therefore will I give thanks and extol You, O Lord, among the nations, and sing praises to Your name.^(C)

⁵⁰ Great deliverances and triumphs gives He to His king; and He shows mercy and steadfast love to His anointed, to David and his offspring forever.^(D)

⁴⁶ And Mary said, My soul magnifies and extols the Lord,

⁴⁷ And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

⁴⁸ For He has looked upon the low station and humiliation of His handmaiden. For behold, from now on all generations [of all ages] will call me blessed and declare me happy and ^[a]to be envied!

⁴⁹ For He Who is almighty has done great things for me—and holy is His name [to be venerated in His purity, majesty and glory]!

⁵⁰ And His mercy (His compassion and kindness toward the miserable and afflicted) is on those who fear Him with godly reverence, from generation to generation and age to age.^(A)

⁵¹ He has shown strength and ^[b]made might with His arm; He has scattered the proud and haughty in and by the imagination and purpose and designs of their hearts.

⁵² He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of low degree.

⁵³ He has filled and satisfied the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty-handed [without a gift].

⁵⁴ He has laid hold on His servant Israel [to help him, to espouse his cause], in remembrance of His mercy,

⁵⁵ Even as He promised to our forefathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.^(B)

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¹⁶ As we were on our way to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who was possessed by a spirit of divination [claiming to foretell future events and to discover hidden knowledge], and she brought her owners much gain by her fortunetelling.

¹⁷ She kept following Paul and [the rest of] us, shouting loudly, These men are the servants of the Most High God! They announce to you the way of salvation!

¹⁸ And she did this for many days. Then Paul, being sorely annoyed and worn out, turned and said to the spirit within her, I charge you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her! And it came out that very ^[a]moment.

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!

²⁹ Then [the jailer] called for lights and rushed in, and trembling and terrified he fell down before Paul and Silas.

³⁰ And he brought them out [of the dungeon] and said, Men, what is it necessary for me to do that I may be saved?

³¹ And they answered, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ [^[b]give yourself up to Him, ^[c] take yourself out of your own keeping and entrust yourself into His keeping] and you will be saved, [and this applies both to] you and your household as well.

³² And they declared the Word of the Lord [the doctrine concerning the ^[d]attainment through Christ of eternal salvation in the kingdom of God] to him and to all who were in his house.

³³ And he took them the same hour of the night and ^[e]bathed [them because of their bloody] wounds, and he was baptized immediately and all [the members of] his [household].

³⁴ Then he took them up into his house and set food before them; and he ^[f]leaped much for joy and exulted with all his family that he believed in God [accepting and joyously welcoming what He had made known through Christ].

³⁵ But when it was day, the magistrates sent policemen, saying, Release those fellows and let them go.

³⁶ And the jailer repeated the words to Paul, saying, The magistrates have sent to release you and let you go; now therefore come out and go in peace.

³⁷ But Paul answered them, They have beaten us openly and publicly, without a trial and uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now thrust us out secretly? No, indeed! Let them come here themselves and conduct us out!

³⁸ The police reported this message to the magistrates, and they were frightened when they heard that the prisoners were Roman citizens;

³⁹ So they came themselves and [striving to appease them by entreaty] apologized to them. And they brought them out and asked them to leave the city.

⁴⁰ So [Paul and Silas] left the prison and went to Lydia’s house; and when they had seen the brethren, they warned and urged and consoled and encouraged them and departed.

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