Old/New Testament
Psalm 43[a]
43 Vindicate me, O God!
Fight for me[b] against an ungodly nation.
Deliver me[c] from deceitful and evil men.[d]
2 For you are the God who shelters me.[e]
Why do you reject me?[f]
Why must I walk around[g] mourning[h]
because my enemies oppress me?
3 Reveal[i] your light[j] and your faithfulness.
They will lead me;[k]
they will escort[l] me back to your holy hill,[m]
and to the place where you live.[n]
4 Then I will go[o] to the altar of God,
to the God who gives me ecstatic joy,[p]
so that I may express my thanks to you,[q] O God, my God, with a harp.
5 Why are you depressed,[r] O my soul?[s]
Why are you upset?[t]
Wait for God!
For I will again give thanks
to my God for his saving intervention.[u]
Psalm 44[v]
For the music director, by the Korahites; a well-written song.[w]
44 O God, we have clearly heard;[x]
our ancestors[y] have told us
what you did[z] in their days,
in ancient times.[aa]
2 You, by your power,[ab] defeated nations and settled our fathers on their land;[ac]
you crushed[ad] the people living there[ae] and enabled our ancestors to occupy it.[af]
3 For they did not conquer[ag] the land by their swords,
and they did not prevail by their strength,[ah]
but rather by your power,[ai] strength,[aj] and good favor,[ak]
for you were partial to[al] them.
4 You are my[am] king, O God.
Decree[an] Jacob’s[ao] deliverance.
5 By your power[ap] we will drive back[aq] our enemies;
by your strength[ar] we will trample down[as] our foes.[at]
6 For I do not trust in my bow,
and I do not prevail by my sword.
7 For you deliver[au] us from our enemies;
you humiliate[av] those who hate us.
8 In God we boast all day long,
and we will continually give thanks to your name. (Selah)
9 But[aw] you rejected and embarrassed us.
You did not go into battle with our armies.[ax]
10 You made us retreat[ay] from the enemy.
Those who hate us take whatever they want from us.[az]
11 You handed us[ba] over like sheep to be eaten;
you scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold[bb] your people for a pittance;[bc]
you did not ask a high price for them.[bd]
13 You made us[be] an object of disdain to our neighbors;
those who live on our borders taunt and insult us.[bf]
14 You made us[bg] an object of ridicule[bh] among the nations;
foreigners treat us with contempt.[bi]
15 All day long I feel humiliated[bj]
and am overwhelmed with shame,[bk]
16 before the vindictive enemy
who ridicules and insults me.[bl]
17 All this has happened to us, even though we have not rejected you[bm]
or violated your covenant with us.[bn]
18 We have not been unfaithful,[bo]
nor have we disobeyed your commands.[bp]
19 Yet you have battered us, leaving us a heap of ruins overrun by wild dogs;[bq]
you have covered us with darkness.[br]
20 If we had rejected our God,[bs]
and spread out our hands in prayer to another god,[bt]
21 would not God discover it,
for he knows[bu] a person’s secret thoughts?[bv]
22 Yet because of you[bw] we are killed all day long;
we are treated like[bx] sheep at the slaughtering block.[by]
23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?
Wake up![bz] Do not reject us forever.
24 Why do you look the other way,[ca]
and ignore[cb] the way we are oppressed and mistreated?[cc]
25 For we lie in the dirt,
with our bellies pressed to the ground.[cd]
26 Rise up and help us.
Rescue us[ce] because of your loyal love.
Psalm 45[cf]
For the music director, according to the tune of “Lilies”;[cg] by the Korahites, a well-written poem,[ch] a love song.
45 My heart is stirred by a beautiful song.[ci]
I say, “I have composed this special song[cj] for the king;
my tongue is as skilled as the stylus of an experienced scribe.”[ck]
2 You are the most handsome of all men.[cl]
You speak in an impressive and fitting manner.[cm]
For this reason[cn] God grants you continual blessings.[co]
3 Strap your sword to your thigh, O warrior.[cp]
Appear in your majestic splendor.[cq]
4 Appear in your majesty and be victorious.[cr]
Ride forth for the sake of what is right,[cs]
on behalf of justice.[ct]
Then your right hand will accomplish mighty acts.[cu]
5 Your arrows are sharp
and penetrate the hearts of the king’s enemies.
Nations fall at your feet.[cv]
6 Your throne,[cw] O God, is permanent.[cx]
The scepter[cy] of your kingdom is a scepter of justice.
7 You love[cz] justice and hate evil.[da]
For this reason God, your God,[db] has anointed you[dc]
with the oil of joy,[dd] elevating you above your companions.[de]
8 All your garments are perfumed with[df] myrrh, aloes, and cassia.
From the luxurious palaces[dg] comes the music of stringed instruments that makes you happy.[dh]
9 Princesses[di] are among your honored women.[dj]
Your bride[dk] stands at your right hand, wearing jewelry made with gold from Ophir.[dl]
10 Listen, O princess.[dm]
Observe and pay attention![dn]
Forget your homeland[do] and your family.[dp]
11 Then[dq] the king will be attracted by[dr] your beauty.
After all, he is your master. Submit[ds] to him.[dt]
12 Rich people from Tyre
will seek your favor by bringing a gift.[du]
13 The princess[dv] looks absolutely magnificent,[dw]
decked out in pearls and clothed in a brocade trimmed with gold.[dx]
14 In embroidered robes she is escorted to the king.
Her attendants, the maidens of honor who follow her,
are led before you.[dy]
15 They are bubbling with joy as they walk in procession
and enter the royal palace.[dz]
16 Your[ea] sons will carry on[eb] the dynasty of your ancestors;[ec]
you will make them princes throughout the land.
17 I will proclaim your greatness through the coming years,[ed]
then the nations will praise you[ee] forever.
27 When the fourteenth night had come, while we were being driven[a] across the Adriatic Sea,[b] about midnight the sailors suspected they were approaching some land.[c] 28 They took soundings[d] and found the water was twenty fathoms[e] deep; when they had sailed a little farther[f] they took soundings again and found it was fifteen fathoms[g] deep. 29 Because they were afraid[h] that we would run aground on the rocky coast,[i] they threw out[j] four anchors from the stern and wished[k] for day to appear.[l] 30 Then when the sailors tried to escape from the ship and were lowering the ship’s boat into the sea, pretending[m] that they were going to put out anchors from the bow, 31 Paul said to the centurion[n] and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you[o] cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut the ropes[p] of the ship’s boat and let it drift away.[q]
33 As day was about to dawn,[r] Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day you have been in suspense[s] and have gone[t] without food; you have eaten nothing.[u] 34 Therefore I urge you to take some food, for this is important[v] for your survival.[w] For not one of you will lose a hair from his head.” 35 After he said this, Paul[x] took bread[y] and gave thanks to God in front of them all,[z] broke[aa] it, and began to eat. 36 So all of them were encouraged and took food themselves. 37 (We were in all 276[ab] persons on the ship.)[ac] 38 When they had eaten enough to be satisfied,[ad] they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat[ae] into the sea.
Paul is Shipwrecked
39 When day came, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed[af] a bay[ag] with a beach,[ah] where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. 40 So they slipped[ai] the anchors[aj] and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the linkage[ak] that bound the steering oars[al] together. Then they hoisted[am] the foresail[an] to the wind and steered toward[ao] the beach. 41 But they encountered a patch of crosscurrents[ap] and ran the ship aground; the bow stuck fast and could not be moved, but the stern was being broken up by the force[aq] of the waves. 42 Now the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners[ar] so that none of them would escape by swimming away.[as] 43 But the centurion,[at] wanting to save Paul’s life,[au] prevented them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land,[av] 44 and the rest were to follow,[aw] some on planks[ax] and some on pieces of the ship.[ay] And in this way[az] all were brought safely to land.
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