Old/New Testament
Praise God Who Creates and Saves
33 ·Sing [Shout for joy] to the Lord, you ·who do what is right [righteous ones];
·honest people should praise him [L praise is fitting from the upright/virtuous].
2 ·Praise [Give thanks to] the Lord on the harp;
make music for him on a ten-stringed lyre.
3 Sing a new song [C celebrating victory; 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1; Is. 42:10; Rev. 5:9; 14:3] to him;
play well ·and joyfully [with a loud/a victory shout].
4 God’s word is ·true [upright; virtuous],
and everything he does is ·right [faithful].
5 He loves what is right and ·fair [just];
the Lord’s ·love [loyalty; covenant love] fills the earth.
6 The ·sky was [heavens were] made at the Lord’s ·command [word; Gen. 1:8].
By the breath from his mouth, he made all ·the stars [L its hosts; Gen. 1:16].
7 He gathered the water of the sea into ·a heap [or jars; bottles].
He ·made the great ocean stay in its place [L placed the deeps in a storehouse; Job 38:8–11].
8 All the earth should ·worship [fear; hold in awe] the Lord [Prov. 1:7];
·the whole [L all the inhabitants of the] world should ·fear him [hold him in awe].
9 He spoke, and it happened.
He commanded, and it ·appeared [L stood; Heb. 11:3].
10 The Lord ·upsets [frustrates] the ·plans [counsels] of nations;
he ·ruins [foils] ·all their plans [L the plans of the peoples].
11 But the Lord’s ·plans [counsels] will ·stand [endure] forever;
·his ideas [L the plans of his heart] will last from now on.
12 ·Happy [Blessed] is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people he chose for his ·very own [L inheritance; Ex. 19:5].
13 The Lord looks down from heaven
and sees every person.
14 From his throne he watches
all who live on earth.
15 He ·made [fashions all] their hearts
and understands everything they do.
16 No king is saved by his ·great [large] army.
No warrior ·escapes [is rescued/T delivered] by his great strength.
17 Horses ·can’t bring [are a vain hope for] victory;
they can’t save by their strength.
18 But the ·Lord looks after [L eye of the Lord is on] those who fear him,
those who ·put their hope [wait on him] in his ·love [loyalty; covenant love].
19 He ·saves [rescues; T delivers] ·them [their soul] from death
and ·spares their lives in times of hunger [revives them in famine].
20 So our hope is in the Lord.
He is our help, our shield to protect us.
21 ·We [L Our hearts] rejoice in him,
because we ·trust [have confidence in] his holy name.
22 Lord, ·show your love to us [L let your loyalty/covenant love be on us]
as we ·put our hope in [wait for] you.
Praise God Who Judges and Saves
David’s song from the time he ·acted crazy [acted mad/insane; L changed his mind/discernment] so Abimelech [C perhaps another name for Achish] would ·send [drive] him away, and David did leave [1 Sam. 21:10–15].
34 I will ·praise [bless] the Lord at all times;
his praise is always ·on my lips [L in my mouth].
2 My ·whole being [soul] praises the Lord.
The ·poor [humble] will hear and be glad.
3 ·Glorify [Praise; Magnify] the Lord with me,
and let us ·praise [L extol] his name together.
4 I ·asked the Lord for help [sought the Lord], and he answered me.
He ·saved [rescued; T delivered] me from all that I feared.
5 Those who ·go [L look] to him for help are ·happy [radiant],
and ·they [L their faces] are never ·disgraced [shamed].
6 This ·poor [afflicted] man [C someone in the congregation or the psalmist himself] ·called [prayed], and the Lord heard him
and ·saved him from [gave him victory over] all his ·troubles [distress].
7 The angel of the Lord [91:11; Gen. 32:1–2; 2 Kin. 6:17; Matt. 4:5–6] camps around those who fear God [Prov. 1:7],
and he saves them.
8 ·Examine [L Taste] and see how good the Lord is.
·Happy [Blessed] is the person who ·trusts [finds refuge in] him.
9 You ·who belong to the Lord [holy ones], fear him [Prov. 1:7]!
Those who fear him will ·have everything they need [not lack anything; 23:1].
10 Even lions [C the most noble wild beast] may get weak and hungry,
but those who ·look to [seek] the Lord ·will have every [L do not lack any] good thing.
11 Children, come and listen to me.
I will teach you ·to worship [L the fear of] the Lord.
12 ·You must do these things
to enjoy life and have many happy days [L Who of you takes pleasure in life and loves days to experience good?].
13 You must ·not say evil things [L guard/keep your tongue from evil],
and ·you must not tell lies [L your lips from deception].
14 ·Stop doing [L Turn aside from] evil and do good.
·Look for [Seek] peace and ·work for [pursue] it.
15 ·The Lord sees the [L The eyes of the Lord are on] ·good [righteous] people
and ·listens to their prayers [L his ears attend to their cries for help].
16 But the ·Lord is [L face of the Lord is] against those who do evil;
he ·makes the world forget them [L cuts memory of them off the earth].
17 ·The Lord hears good people when they [L They] cry out to him,
and he saves them from all their ·troubles [distress].
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted,
and he saves those whose spirits have been crushed.
19 People who ·do what is right may [are righteous] have many ·problems [afflictions],
but the Lord ·will solve them [L saves them from them] all.
20 He will protect their very bones;
not one of them will be broken.
21 Evil will kill the wicked;
those who hate ·good [righteous] people will be judged guilty.
22 But the Lord ·saves [redeems; ransoms] his servants’ lives;
no one who ·trusts [finds refuge in] him will be judged guilty.
Paul Is Accused
24 Five days later Ananias, the high priest [23:1], ·went to the city of Caesarea [L came down] with some of the elders and a ·lawyer [orator; C one who speaks in court] named Tertullus. They had come to make charges against Paul before the governor. 2 Paul was called into the meeting, and Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, “Most Excellent Felix! Our people enjoy ·much [or a long period of] peace because of you, and many ·wrong things in our country are being made right [or improvements/reforms have been made] through your ·wise help [or foresight]. 3 We ·accept [acknowledge] these things always and in every place, ·and we are thankful for them [or …with much gratitude/thanksgiving]. 4 But not wanting to ·take any more of your time [detain you; or bore you], I ·beg [encourage; urge] you ·to be kind and [or because you are kind/patient to] listen to our few words. 5 We have found this man to be a ·troublemaker [pest; plague], ·stirring up [or instigating riots among] ·his people [L Jews] everywhere in the world. He is a ·leader [ringleader] of the Nazarene ·group [party; faction; sect]. 6 Also, he was trying to ·make the Temple unclean [defile/profane/desecrate the Temple], but we ·stopped [or grabbed; arrested] him. |And we wanted to judge him by our own law. 7 But the ·officer [tribune] Lysias came and used much force to take him from us. 8 And Lysias commanded ·those who wanted to accuse Paul [his accusers] to come to you.|[a] By ·asking him questions [cross-examining him] yourself, you can ·decide [learn; come to know] ·if all these things are true [or the nature of our accusations].” 9 The ·others [L Jews] ·agreed [or joined in the attack] and said that all of this was true.
10 When the governor ·made a sign [motioned; gestured] for ·Paul [L him] to speak, Paul ·said [responded], “I know you have been a judge over this nation for ·a long time [L many years]. So I ·am happy to [gladly; confidently] defend myself before you. 11 You can ·learn [find out; verify] for yourself that I went to worship in Jerusalem ·only [L no more than] twelve days ago. 12 ·Those who are accusing me [L They] did not find me arguing with anyone in the Temple or stirring up the ·people [crowd] in the synagogues or in the city. 13 They cannot prove the ·things they are saying [charges; accusations] against me now. 14 But I will ·tell you this [admit/confess this to you]: I worship the God of our ·ancestors [forefathers; fathers] as a follower of ·the Way of Jesus [L the Way; 22:4], which they call a ·sect [faction; cult]. But I believe everything that is ·taught in [or in agreement with; L according to] the law of Moses and that is written in the books of the Prophets. 15 I have the same hope in God that they ·have [accept]—the hope that all people, ·good and bad [righteous and unrighteous], will surely be ·raised from the dead [resurrected; C the righteous to salvation, the wicked for judgment; Is. 26:19; Dan. 12:2]. 16 This is why I always try to ·do what I believe is right [L have a clear conscience] before God and people.
17 “After being away from Jerusalem for ·several [L many] years, I went back to bring ·money [alms; gifts for the poor] to my ·people [nation; Rom. 15:26; 1 Cor. 16:1; 2 Cor. 8:4; 9:1, 13] and to ·offer sacrifices [present offerings]. 18 I was doing this when they found me in the Temple. I ·had finished the cleansing ceremony [or I was ritually pure; 21:20–29] ·and had not made any trouble; no people were gathering around me [L with neither crowd nor trouble]. 19 But there were some ·people [L Jews] from Asia who should be here, standing before you. If ·I have really done anything wrong [L they have anything against me], they are the ones who should accuse me. 20 Or ·ask these people here [L let these people themselves state] if they found any ·wrong [crime; unrighteousness] in me when I stood before the ·council in Jerusalem [Sanhedrin]. 21 But I did shout one thing when I stood before them: ‘·You are judging me [or I am on trial before you] today ·because I believe that people will rise from [or with respect to the issue of the resurrection of] the dead!’”
22 Felix already ·understood much about [L knew accurately the facts about] the ·Way of Jesus [L Way; 22:4]. He ·stopped the trial [adjourned the hearing] and said, “When ·commander [tribune] Lysias comes ·here [L down], I will decide your case.” 23 Felix ·told [L ordered] the ·officer [centurion] to keep ·Paul [L him] guarded but to give him some freedom and to let his ·friends [L own people] ·bring what he needed [meet his needs; L serve him].
Paul Speaks to Felix and His Wife
24 After some days Felix came with his wife, Drusilla, who was Jewish, and asked for Paul to be brought to him. He listened to Paul talk about ·believing [faith] in Christ Jesus. 25 But Felix became afraid when Paul spoke about ·living right [righteousness; justice], self-control, and the ·time when God will judge the world [L coming judgment]. He said, “·Go away [or That’s enough for] now. When I have ·more time [another opportunity], I will call for you.” 26 At the same time Felix hoped that ·Paul [L he] would give him ·some money [or a bribe], so he often sent for Paul and talked with him.
27 But after two years, Felix was ·replaced [succeeded] by Porcius Festus as governor [C from ad 59–62]. But Felix had left Paul in prison to please the Jews.
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