Psalm 43-45
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Psalm 43
Prayer to God in Time of Trouble
1 Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause
against an ungodly people;
from those who are deceitful and unjust,
deliver me!(A)
2 For you are the God in whom I take refuge;
why have you cast me off?
Why must I walk about mournfully
because of the oppression of the enemy?(B)
3 O send out your light and your truth;
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
and to your dwelling.(C)
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy,
and I will praise you with the harp,
O God, my God.(D)
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.(E)
Psalm 44
National Lament and Prayer for Help
To the leader. Of the Korahites. A Maskil.
1 We have heard with our ears, O God;
our ancestors have told us
what deeds you performed in their days,
in the days of old:(F)
2 you with your own hand drove out the nations,
but them you planted;
you afflicted the peoples,
but them you set free;(G)
3 for not by their own sword did they win the land,
nor did their own arm give them victory,
but your right hand, and your arm,
and the light of your countenance,
for you delighted in them.(H)
4 You are my King and my God;
you command[a] victories for Jacob.
5 Through you we push down our foes;
through your name we tread down our assailants.(I)
6 For not in my bow do I trust,
nor can my sword save me.
7 But you have saved us from our foes
and have put to confusion those who hate us.(J)
8 In God we have boasted continually,
and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah(K)
9 Yet you have rejected us and shamed us
and have not gone out with our armies.(L)
10 You made us turn back from the foe,
and our enemies have gotten spoil.(M)
11 You have made us like sheep for slaughter
and have scattered us among the nations.(N)
12 You have sold your people for a trifle,
demanding no high price for them.(O)
13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors,
the derision and scorn of those around us.(P)
14 You have made us a byword among the nations,
a laughingstock[b] among the peoples.(Q)
15 All day long my disgrace is before me,
and shame has covered my face
16 at the words of the taunters and revilers,
at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.(R)
17 All this has come upon us,
yet we have not forgotten you
or been false to your covenant.(S)
18 Our heart has not turned back,
nor have our steps departed from your way,(T)
19 yet you have broken us in the haunt of jackals
and covered us with deep darkness.(U)
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a strange god,(V)
21 would not God discover this?
For he knows the secrets of the heart.(W)
22 Because of you we are being killed all day long
and accounted as sheep for the slaughter.(X)
23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?
Awake, do not cast us off forever!(Y)
24 Why do you hide your face?
Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?(Z)
25 For we sink down to the dust;
our bodies cling to the ground.(AA)
26 Rise up, come to our help.
Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love.(AB)
Psalm 45
Ode for a Royal Wedding
To the leader: according to Lilies. Of the Korahites. A Maskil. A love song.
1 My heart overflows with a goodly theme;
I address my verses to the king;
my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.(AC)
2 You are the most handsome of men;
grace is poured upon your lips;
therefore God has blessed you forever.(AD)
3 Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,
in your glory and majesty.(AE)
4 In your majesty ride on victoriously
for the cause of truth and to defend[c] the right;
let your right hand teach you dread deeds.(AF)
5 Your arrows are sharp
in the heart of the king’s enemies;
the peoples fall under you.
6 Your throne, O God,[d] endures forever and ever.
Your royal scepter is a scepter of equity;(AG)
7 you love righteousness and hate wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;(AH)
8 your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.
From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;(AI)
9 daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor;
at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.(AJ)
10 Hear, O daughter, consider and incline your ear;
forget your people and your father’s house,(AK)
11 and the king will desire your beauty.
Since he is your lord, bow to him;(AL)
12 Daughter Tyre will seek your favor with gifts,
the richest of the people(AM) 13 with all kinds of wealth.
The princess is decked in her chamber with gold-woven robes;[e](AN)
14 in many-colored robes she is led to the king;
behind her the virgins, her companions, follow.(AO)
15 With joy and gladness they are led along
as they enter the palace of the king.
Acts 27:27-44
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
27 When the fourteenth night had come, as we were drifting across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. 28 So they took soundings and found twenty fathoms; a little farther on they took soundings again and found fifteen fathoms. 29 Fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. 30 But when the sailors tried to escape from the ship and had lowered the boat into the sea on the pretext of putting out anchors from the bow,(A) 31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the boat and set it adrift.
33 Just before daybreak, Paul urged all of them to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been in suspense and remaining without food, having eaten nothing. 34 Therefore I urge you to take some food, for it will help you survive, for none of you will lose a hair from your heads.”(B) 35 After he had said this, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all, he broke it and began to eat.(C) 36 Then all of them were encouraged and took food for themselves.(D) 37 (We were in all two hundred seventy-six[a] persons in the ship.) 38 After they had satisfied their hunger, they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea.(E)
The Shipwreck
39 In the morning they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach on which they planned to run the ship ashore, if they could.(F) 40 So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea. At the same time they loosened the ropes that tied the steering-oars; then hoisting the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach.(G) 41 But striking a reef,[b] they ran the ship aground; the bow stuck and remained immovable, but the stern was being broken up by the force of the waves.(H) 42 The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, so that none might swim away and escape;(I) 43 but the centurion, wishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land(J) 44 and the rest to follow, some on planks and others on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to land.(K)
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