Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause

A Maskil[a] of (A)Asaph.

74 O God, why do you (B)cast us off forever?
    Why does your anger (C)smoke against (D)the sheep of your pasture?
(E)Remember your congregation, which you have (F)purchased of old,
    which you have (G)redeemed to be (H)the tribe of your heritage!
    Remember Mount Zion, (I)where you have dwelt.
Direct your steps to (J)the perpetual ruins;
    the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!

Your foes have (K)roared in the midst of your meeting place;
    (L)they set up their (M)own signs for (N)signs.
They were like those who swing (O)axes
    in a forest of trees.[b]
And all its (P)carved wood
    they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
They (Q)set your sanctuary on fire;
    they (R)profaned (S)the dwelling place of your name,
    bringing it down to the ground.
They (T)said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
    they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

We do not see our (U)signs;
    (V)there is no longer any prophet,
    and there is none among us who knows how long.
10 How long, O God, (W)is the foe to scoff?
    Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
11 Why (X)do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
    Take it from the fold of your garment[c] and destroy them!

12 Yet (Y)God my King is from of old,
    working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You (Z)divided the sea by your might;
    you (AA)broke the heads of (AB)the sea monsters[d] on the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of (AC)Leviathan;
    you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 You (AD)split open springs and brooks;
    you (AE)dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, yours also the night;
    you have established (AF)the heavenly lights and the sun.
17 You have (AG)fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
    you have made (AH)summer and winter.

18 (AI)Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
    and (AJ)a foolish people reviles your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of your (AK)dove to the wild beasts;
    (AL)do not forget the life of your poor forever.

20 Have regard for (AM)the covenant,
    for (AN)the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Let not (AO)the downtrodden (AP)turn back in shame;
    let (AQ)the poor and needy praise your name.

22 Arise, O God, (AR)defend your cause;
    (AS)remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
23 Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
    (AT)the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 74:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
  2. Psalm 74:5 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
  3. Psalm 74:11 Hebrew from your bosom
  4. Psalm 74:13 Or the great sea creatures

The Siege of Jerusalem

29 Ah, Ariel, Ariel,
    the city (A)where David encamped!
Add year to year;
    let the feasts run their round.
Yet I will distress Ariel,
    and there shall be moaning and lamentation,
    and she shall be to me like an Ariel.[a]
(B)And I will encamp against you all around,
    and will besiege you (C)with towers
    and I will raise siegeworks against you.
(D)And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak,
    and from the dust your speech will be bowed down;
your voice shall come from the ground like (E)the voice of a ghost,
    and from the dust your speech shall whisper.

But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like (F)small dust,
    and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.
(G)And in an instant, suddenly,
    (H)you will be visited by the Lord of hosts
with thunder and with earthquake and great noise,
    with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.
And (I)the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
    all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her,
    shall be (J)like a dream, a vision of the night.
(K)As when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating,
    and awakes with his hunger not satisfied,
or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking,
    and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched,
so shall the multitude of all the nations be
    that fight against Mount Zion.

Astonish yourselves[b] and be astonished;
    blind yourselves and be blind!
Be drunk,[c] but not with wine;
    (L)stagger,[d] but not with strong drink!
10 (M)For the Lord has poured out upon you
    a spirit of deep sleep,
and has closed your eyes (the prophets),
    and covered your heads (the seers).

11 And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is (N)sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12 And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”

13 And the Lord said:
“Because (O)this people (P)draw near with their mouth
    and honor me with their lips,
    while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
14 therefore, behold, (Q)I will again
    do wonderful things with this people,
    with wonder upon wonder;
and (R)the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
    and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”

15 Ah, (S)you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,
    whose deeds are (T)in the dark,
    and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
16 (U)You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
    “He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
    “He has no understanding”?

17 Is it not yet a very little while
    (V)until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
    and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
18 In that day (W)the deaf shall hear
    (X)the words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
    (Y)the eyes of the blind shall see.
19 (Z)The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
    and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the ruthless shall come to nothing
    and (AA)the scoffer cease,
    and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,
21 who by a word make a man out to be an offender,
    and (AB)lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
    and with an empty plea (AC)turn aside him who is in the right.

22 Therefore thus says the Lord, (AD)who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:

“Jacob shall no more be ashamed,
    no more shall his face grow pale.
23 For when he sees his children,
    (AE)the work of my hands, in his midst,
    they will sanctify my name;
(AF)they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
    and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 And those (AG)who go astray in spirit will come to understanding,
    and those who murmur will accept instruction.”

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 29:2 Ariel could mean lion of God, or hero (2 Samuel 23:20), or altar hearth (Ezekiel 43:15–16)
  2. Isaiah 29:9 Or Linger awhile
  3. Isaiah 29:9 Or They are drunk
  4. Isaiah 29:9 Or they stagger

Paul and Barnabas Separate

36 And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit (A)the brothers (B)in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” 37 Now Barnabas wanted to take with them (C)John called Mark. 38 But Paul thought best not to take with them one (D)who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. 39 And there arose (E)a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. (F)Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and departed, (G)having been commended by (H)the brothers to (I)the grace of the Lord. 41 And he went through Syria and Cilicia, (J)strengthening the churches.

Timothy Joins Paul and Silas

16 Paul[a] came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named (K)Timothy, (L)the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by (M)the brothers[b] at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he (N)took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance (O)the decisions (P)that had been reached by (Q)the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. (R)So the churches were strengthened in (S)the faith, and they increased in numbers (T)daily.

The Macedonian Call

And (U)they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but (V)the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down (W)to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 And when Paul[c] had seen the vision, immediately (X)we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

The Conversion of Lydia

11 So, setting sail from Troas, we (Y)made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, 12 and from there to (Z)Philippi, which is a leading city of the[d] district of Macedonia and (AA)a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. 13 And (AB)on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate (AC)to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we (AD)sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. 14 One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, (AE)who was a worshiper of God. The Lord (AF)opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. 15 And after she was baptized, (AG)and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she (AH)prevailed upon us.

Footnotes

  1. Acts 16:1 Greek He
  2. Acts 16:2 Or brothers and sisters; also verse 40
  3. Acts 16:10 Greek he
  4. Acts 16:12 Or that

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