Old/New Testament
The Safety of the Faithful
To the [a]Chief Musician. With stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.
4 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have relieved me in my distress;
[b]Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.
2 How long, O you sons of men,
Will you turn my glory to shame?
How long will you love worthlessness
And seek falsehood? Selah
3 But know that (A)the Lord has [c]set apart for Himself him who is godly;
The Lord will hear when I call to Him.
4 (B)Be[d] angry, and do not sin.
(C)Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Selah
5 Offer (D)the sacrifices of righteousness,
And (E)put your trust in the Lord.
6 There are many who say,
“Who will show us any good?”
(F)Lord, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us.
7 You have put (G)gladness in my heart,
More than in the season that their grain and wine increased.
8 (H)I will both lie down in peace, and sleep;
(I)For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
A Prayer for Guidance
To the Chief Musician. With [e]flutes. A Psalm of David.
5 Give (J)ear to my words, O Lord,
Consider my [f]meditation.
2 Give heed to the voice of my cry,
My King and my God,
For to You I will pray.
3 My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord;
(K)In the morning I will direct it to You,
And I will look up.
4 For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness,
Nor shall evil [g]dwell with You.
5 The (L)boastful shall not (M)stand in Your sight;
You hate all workers of iniquity.
6 You shall destroy those who speak falsehood;
The Lord abhors the (N)bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
7 But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy;
In fear of You I will worship toward [h]Your holy temple.
8 (O)Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies;
Make Your way straight before my face.
9 For there is no [i]faithfulness in their mouth;
Their inward part is destruction;
(P)Their throat is an open tomb;
They flatter with their tongue.
10 Pronounce them guilty, O God!
Let them fall by their own counsels;
Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions,
For they have rebelled against You.
11 But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You;
Let them ever shout for joy, because You [j]defend them;
Let those also who love Your name
Be joyful in You.
12 For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous;
With favor You will surround him as with a shield.
A Prayer of Faith in Time of Distress
To the Chief Musician. With stringed instruments. (Q)On [k]an eight-stringed harp. A Psalm of David.
6 O Lord, (R)do not rebuke me in Your anger,
Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.
2 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak;
O Lord, (S)heal me, for my bones are troubled.
3 My soul also is greatly (T)troubled;
But You, O Lord—how long?
4 Return, O Lord, deliver me!
Oh, save me for Your mercies’ sake!
5 (U)For in death there is no remembrance of You;
In the grave who will give You thanks?
The Philosophers at Athens
16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, (A)his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was [a]given over to idols. 17 Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. 18 [b]Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this [c]babbler want to say?”
Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them (B)Jesus and the resurrection.
19 And they took him and brought him to the [d]Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? 20 For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.” 21 For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.
Addressing the Areopagus
22 Then Paul stood in the midst of the [e]Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:
TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.
Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 24 (C)God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is (D)Lord of heaven and earth, (E)does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He (F)gives to all life, breath, and all things. 26 And He has made from one [f]blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and (G)the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 (H)so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, (I)though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for (J)in Him we live and move and have our being, (K)as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ 29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, (L)we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. 30 Truly, (M)these times of ignorance God overlooked, but (N)now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which (O)He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by (P)raising Him from the dead.”
32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” 33 So Paul departed from among them. 34 However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.