Psalm 74-76

English Standard Version

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?
²^(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.
³Direct your steps to ^(J)the perpetual ruins;
    the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!

⁴Your foes have ^(K)roared in the midst of your meeting place;
    ^(L)they set up their ^(M)own signs for ^(N)signs.
⁵They were like those who swing ^(O)axes
    in a forest of trees.^[b]
⁶And all its ^(P)carved wood
    they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
⁷They ^(Q)set your sanctuary on fire;
    they ^(R)profaned ^(S)the dwelling place of your name,
    bringing it down to the ground.
⁸They ^(T)said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
    they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

⁹We do not see our ^(U)signs;
    ^(V)there is no longer any prophet,
    and there is none among us who knows how long.
¹⁰How long, O God, ^(W)is the foe to scoff?
    Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
¹¹Why ^(X)do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
    Take it from the fold of your garment^[c] and destroy them!

¹²Yet ^(Y)God my King is from of old,
    working salvation in the midst of the earth.
¹³You ^(Z)divided the sea by your might;
    you ^(AA)broke the heads of ^(AB)the sea monsters^[d] on the waters.
¹⁴You crushed the heads of ^(AC)Leviathan;
    you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
¹⁵You ^(AD)split open springs and brooks;
    you ^(AE)dried up ever-flowing streams.
¹⁶Yours is the day, yours also the night;
    you have established ^(AF)the heavenly lights and the sun.
¹⁷You 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.
¹⁹Do not deliver the soul of your ^(AK)dove to the wild beasts;
^(AL)do not forget the life of your poor forever.

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

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

God Will Judge with Equity

To the choirmaster: according to ^(AU)Do Not Destroy. ^(AV)A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.

75 We give thanks to you, O God;
we give thanks, for your name is ^(AW)near.
We^[e] recount your wondrous deeds.

²“At ^(AX)the set time that I appoint
    I will judge ^(AY)with equity.
³When the earth ^(AZ)totters, and all its inhabitants,
    it is I who keep steady its ^(BA)pillars. Selah
⁴I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’
    and to the wicked, ^(BB)‘Do not lift up your horn;
⁵do not lift up your horn on high,
    or speak with haughty neck.’”

⁶For not from the east or from the west
    and not from the wilderness comes ^(BC)lifting up,
⁷but it is ^(BD)God who executes judgment,
    ^(BE)putting down one and lifting up another.
⁸^(BF)For in the hand of the Lord there is ^(BG)a cup
    with foaming wine, ^(BH)well mixed,
and he pours out from it,
    and all the wicked of the earth
    shall ^(BI)drain it down to the dregs.

⁹But I will declare it forever;
I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
¹⁰^(BJ)All the horns of the wicked I will cut off,
^(BK)but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.

Who Can Stand Before You?

To the choirmaster: with ^(BL)stringed instruments. A Psalm of ^(BM)Asaph. A Song.

76 In Judah God is ^(BN)known;
    his name is great in Israel.
²His ^(BO)abode has been established in ^(BP)Salem,
    his ^(BQ)dwelling place in Zion.
³There he ^(BR)broke the flashing arrows,
    the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah

⁴Glorious are you, more majestic
    ^(BS)than the mountains full of ^(BT)prey.
⁵^(BU)The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil;
    ^(BV)they sank into sleep;
all the men of war
    were unable to use their hands.
⁶At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
    both ^(BW)rider and horse lay stunned.

⁷^(BX)But you, you are to be feared!
    Who can ^(BY)stand before you
    when once your anger is roused?
⁸From the heavens you uttered judgment;
    ^(BZ)the earth feared and was still,
⁹when God ^(CA)arose to establish judgment,
    to save all the humble of the earth. Selah

¹⁰Surely ^(CB)the wrath of man shall praise you;
    the remnant^[f] of wrath you will put on like a belt.
¹¹^(CC)Make your vows to the Lord your God and perform them;
    let all around him ^(CD)bring gifts
    to him who ^(CE)is to be feared,
¹²who ^(CF)cuts off the spirit of princes,
    who ^(CG)is to be feared by the kings of the earth.

Footnotes

Psalm 74:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
Psalm 74:5 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
Psalm 74:11 Hebrew from your bosom
Psalm 74:13 Or the great sea creatures
Psalm 75:1 Hebrew They
Psalm 76:10 Or extremity

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.”