Old/New Testament
Psalm 13
For the worship leader. A song of David.
1 How long, O Eternal One? How long will You forget me? Forever?
How long will You look the other way?
2 How long must I agonize,
grieving Your absence in my heart every day?
How long will You let my enemies win?
3 Turn back; respond to me, O Eternal, my True God!
Put the spark of life in my eyes, or I’m dead.
4 My enemies will boast they have beaten me;
my foes will celebrate that I have stumbled.
5 But I trust in Your faithful love;
my heart leaps at the thought of imminent deliverance by You.
6 I will sing to the Eternal,
for He is always generous with me.
Psalm 14
For the worship leader. A song of David.
This is a wisdom psalm that grieves over the pervasiveness of sin and its sad effects. It is repeated with minor changes in Psalm 53. Paul refers to this Davidic psalm to explain how all of humanity is tainted by sin (Romans 3:1–12).
1 A wicked and foolish man truly believes there is no God.
They are vile, their sinfulness nauseating to their Creator;
their actions are soiled and repulsive; every deed is depraved;
not one of them does good.
2 The Eternal leans over from heaven to survey the sons of Adam.
No one is missed, and no one can hide.
He searches to see who understands true wisdom,
who desires to know the True God.
3 They all turn their backs, walking their own roads;
they are rancid, leaving a trail of rotten footsteps behind them;
not one of them does good,
not even one.
4 Do the wicked have no clue about what really matters?
They devour my brothers and sisters the way a man eats his dinner.
They ignore the Eternal and don’t call on Him, rejecting His reality and truth.
5 They shall secretly tremble behind closed doors, hearts beating hard within their chests,
knowing that God always avenges the upright.
6 You laugh at the counsel of the poor, the needy, the troubled who put their trust in God.
You try to take away their only hope,
but the Eternal is a strong shelter in the heaviest storm.
7 May a new day, a day of deliverance come for Israel, starting with Zion.
When the Eternal breaks the chains of His oppressed people,
the family of Jacob will rejoice, and Israel will be delighted.
Psalm 15
A song of David.
A recurring theme in the psalms is the dwelling place of God and its importance in worship. This Davidic psalm considers the moral qualities of the person who wishes to approach God.
1 Eternal One, who is invited to stay in Your dwelling?
Who is granted passage to Your holy mountain?
2 Here is the answer: The one who lives with integrity, does what is right,
and speaks honestly with truth from the heart.
3 The one who doesn’t speak evil against others
or wrong his neighbor,
or slander his friends.
4 The one who loathes the loathsome,
honors those who fear the Eternal,
And keeps all promises no matter the cost.
5 The one who does not lend money with gain in mind
and cannot be bought to harm an innocent name.
If you live this way, you will not be shaken and will live together with the Lord.
21 Eventually Paul felt he should move on again. The Holy Spirit confirmed that he should first travel through Macedonia and Achaia and then return to Jerusalem.
Paul: I must eventually see Rome.
22 So he sent Timothy and Erastus, two of his helpers, ahead to Macedonia while he stayed a while longer in Asia. 23 It was during this time that a major incident occurred involving the Way.
In most cities, the Jews stand in opposition to the Way; but in this instance, the outsiders cause the disturbance.
24 An idol maker named Demetrius had a profitable business, for himself and for others, making silver shrines for Artemis (also known as Diana by the Romans), one of the deities worshiped in Ephesus.
25 Picture this: Demetrius calls a meeting of all the artisans who are similarly employed in idol making. Everyone in the idol industry comes together.
Demetrius: Men, we are all colleagues in this fine line of work. We’re making a good living doing what we’re doing. But we’d better wake up, or we’re all going to go broke.
26 You’ve heard about this fellow Paul. Here in Ephesus, he’s already convinced a large number of people to give up using idols. He tells them that our products are worthless. He’s been doing this same kind of thing almost everywhere in Asia. 27 It’s bad enough that he is slandering our fine and honorable profession, but do you see where this will lead? If his lies catch on, the temple of Artemis itself will be called a fraud. The great goddess of our region, the majestic deity who is revered here in Asia and around the world, will be disgraced.
28 The crowd goes wild with rage. They start chanting.
Crowd: Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!
29 Soon the whole city is filled with confusion, and a mob forms. They find Paul’s Macedonian travel companions, Gaius and Aristarchus, and drag them to the theater. 30 Paul wants to go confront the crowd and protect his friends, but the disciples hold him back. 31 Even some provincial officials of Asia who are friendly to Paul send him an urgent message, warning him to stay away from the theater.
32 Enraged voices are shouting on top of each other, some saying one thing, some saying something else. The crowd is completely out of control. Most of the people don’t even know what caused the commotion in the first place. 33 Some of the Jewish people push a man named Alexander to the front of the crowd, hoping he can calm the disturbance. He raises his hands to silence the crowd and gets a few sentences out; 34 but then the crowd realizes he’s a Jew, and once again they start chanting.
Crowd: Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!
For two solid hours they keep the chant going.
35 Finally the town clerk manages to calm the crowd.
Town Clerk: My fellow citizens of Ephesus, everyone in the world knows that our great city is the caretaker of the temple of Artemis! Everyone knows that we are the home of the great statue that fell from heaven! 36 Our status as the economic center of the idolmaking industry is not in danger, so please, calm down. Don’t do anything rash. 37 The men whom you have seized aren’t temple robbers, nor have they blasphemed our great goddess. 38 If Demetrius and the artisans who share his important trade have a legal complaint, don’t bring it here to the theater; take it to the courts—they’re open today. 39 If you need to charge someone with a crime or launch an inquiry, take the matter to the regional judges. 40 We need to do this according to regulations, or we’ll all be charged with rioting. This kind of behavior can’t be justified.
41 So he succeeds in dispersing the crowd.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.