Old/New Testament
Prayer for Help in Time of Trouble
13 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? 2 How long must I plan what to do in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will those who hate me rise above me?
3 Look on me and answer, O Lord, my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death. 4 Or the one who hates me will say, “I have power over him.” And those who hate me will be happy when I am shaken.
5 But I have trusted in Your loving-kindness. My heart will be full of joy because You will save me. 6 I will sing to the Lord, because He has been good to me.
Sinful Men
14 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are sinful and their actions are sinful. There is no one who does good. 2 The Lord has looked down from heaven on the sons of men, to see if there are any who understand and look for God. 3 They have all turned aside. Together they have become bad. There is no one who does good, not even one.
4 Will those who sin never learn? They eat up my people like they eat bread. They do not call on the Lord. 5 There they are in much fear. For God is with the people of this day who do what is right and good. 6 You would put to shame the planning of the poor. But the Lord keeps him safe.
7 O, that it would come out of Zion that Israel would be saved! When the Lord returns His people to their land, Jacob will be full of joy and Israel will be glad.
Good Men
15 O Lord, who may live in Your tent? Who may live on Your holy hill? 2 He who walks without blame and does what is right and good, and speaks the truth in his heart. 3 He does not hurt others with his tongue, or do wrong to his neighbor, or bring shame to his friend. 4 He looks down upon a sinful person, but honors those who fear the Lord. He keeps his promises even if it may hurt him. 5 He gives money to be used without being paid for its use. And he does not take money to hurt those who are not guilty. He who does these things will never be shaken.
21 After this, Paul thought he would go through the countries of Macedonia and Greece. Then he would go to Jerusalem. He said, “After I have been there, I must go to the city of Rome also.” 22 He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia. Paul stayed in the countries of Asia awhile longer.
The Meeting of the Silver Workmen in Ephesus
23 During that time there was much trouble about the Christians. 24 A man named Demetrius made small silver buildings for the worship of Diana. His workmen received much money for their work. 25 He called his workmen together and other men who made these small silver buildings. He said to them, “Men, you know we make much money from this work. 26 Now you hear that Paul has turned away many people in Ephesus as well as in Asia. He tells them that gods made with hands are not gods. 27 It could be that our work will not be respected. Not only that, the house of worship for the god of Diana will be worth nothing and her greatness will be destroyed. All the countries of Asia and the world worship her.”
28 They became angry when they heard this and cried out, “Great is Diana of Ephesus.” 29 The whole city was filled with loud cries. They caught Gaius and Aristarchus. These two men from Macedonia were with Paul. They gathered around them at the meeting place in the city.
30 Paul wanted to stand in front of all the people but his followers would not let him. 31 Some of the city leaders who were his friends told him not to go to the meeting. 32 All this time some were crying out one thing and some another. The meeting was all noise. Most of the people did not know why they had come together. 33 Then the Jews pushed Alexander to the front. Alexander held his hand up and was going to speak. 34 As soon as they saw he was a Jew, they cried out with a loud voice for two hours, “Great is Diana of Ephesus!”
35 One of the city leaders stopped the noise. He spoke, “Men of Ephesus, everyone knows our city is where the god of Diana is kept. That is the stone god that fell from the sky. 36 Everyone knows this is true, so you must not cry out or do anything foolish. 37 The men you brought here do not rob houses of worship or talk against our god. 38 If Demetrius and his workmen have something against anyone, we have special days for courts. Let them go to court. 39 If you want anything else, it should be done in another meeting. 40 We are in danger of being asked about this trouble today. There is no good reason we can give for this meeting.” 41 When he had said this, he told them to leave.
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