Old/New Testament

Prayer of a Good Man

26 O Lord, stand by me for I have lived my life without blame. I have trusted in the Lord without changing. ² Test me and try me, O Lord. Test my mind and my heart. ³ For Your loving-kindness is always in front of my eyes. And I have walked in Your truth. ⁴ I do not sit with men who lie about the truth. I would not be seen with those who pretend to be someone they are not. ⁵ I hate the meeting of sinners, and will not sit with the sinful. ⁶ I will wash my hands of any guilt. And I will go around Your altar, O Lord. ⁷ I will speak with the voice of thanks, and tell of all Your great works.

⁸ O Lord, I love the house where You live, the place where Your shining-greatness lives. ⁹ Do not take my soul away with sinners, or my life with men who kill other people. ¹⁰ Sinful plans are in their hands. And their right hand is full of pay for hurting others. ¹¹ But as for me, I will live a life without blame. Make me free, and show me loving-kindness. ¹² My foot stands on a good place. I will give honor to the Lord, in the meeting of worship.

Prayer of Trust in God

27 The Lord is my light and the One Who saves me. Whom should I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom should I be afraid? ² When sinful men, and all who hated me, came against me to destroy my flesh, they tripped and fell. ³ Even if an army gathers against me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if war rises against me, I will be sure of You.

⁴ One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I will look for: that I may live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to look upon the beauty of the Lord, and to worship in His holy house. ⁵ For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His holy tent. In the secret place of His tent He will hide me. He will set me high upon a rock. ⁶ Then my head will be lifted up above all those around me who hate me. I will give gifts in His holy tent with a loud voice of joy. I will sing. Yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.

⁷ O Lord, listen to my cry. Show loving-kindness to me and answer me. ⁸ You have said, “Look for My face.” My heart said to You, “O Lord, Your face will I look for.” ⁹ Do not hide Your face from me. Do not turn Your servant away in anger. You have been my Helper. Do not turn away from me or leave me alone, O God Who saves me! ¹⁰ For my father and my mother have left me. But the Lord will take care of me.

¹¹ Teach me Your way, O Lord. Lead me in a straight path, because of those who fight against me. ¹² Do not give me over to the desire of those who hate me. For people who tell lies about me rise against me, and breathe a desire to hurt me. ¹³ I would have been without hope if I had not believed that I would see the loving-kindness of the Lord in the land of the living. ¹⁴ Wait for the Lord. Be strong. Let your heart be strong. Yes, wait for the Lord.

Prayer for Help—Praise for the Answer

28 O Lord, to You I call. O my Rock, listen to me. If You will not hear me, I will be like those who have gone down to the grave. ² Hear my cry for loving-kindness as I call to You for help, and when I lift up my hands to Your holy place. ³ Do not drag me away with the sinful and with those who do bad things. They speak peace with their neighbors, while sin is in their hearts. ⁴ Pay them for their work and for the sins they do. Pay them for the works of their hands. Give them what they have earned. ⁵ They do not think about the works of the Lord and what His hands have done. So He will pull them down and not build them up again.

⁶ May honor and thanks be given to the Lord, because He has heard my prayer. ⁷ The Lord is my strength and my safe cover. My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. So my heart is full of joy. I will thank Him with my song. ⁸ The Lord is the strength of His people. He is a safe place for His chosen one. ⁹ Save Your people and bring good to what is Yours. Be their shepherd and carry them forever.

Paul Tells of His Past Life

22 Paul said, “Brothers and fathers, listen to what I have to say to you.” ² When they heard him speak to them in their own language, they stopped making noise. Then he said,

³ “I am a Jew. I was born in the city of Tarsus in the country of Cilicia. When I was a young man, I lived here in Jerusalem. I went to Gamaliel’s school and learned all about the Law of our early fathers. I worked hard for God as you all do today.

⁴ “I worked hard and killed men and women who believed as I believe today. I put them in chains and sent them to prison. ⁵ The head religious leader and the leaders of the people can tell you this is true. I got letters from them to take to our Jewish brothers in the city of Damascus. I was going there to put the Christians in chains and bring them to Jerusalem where they would be beaten.

The Change in Paul’s Life on the Damascus Road

⁶ “I was near Damascus. All at once, about noon, I saw a bright light from heaven shining around me. ⁷ I fell to the ground. A voice said to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you work so hard against Me?’ ⁸ I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, the One you are working against.’ ⁹ Those who were with me saw the light. But they did not hear Him speaking to me. ¹⁰ I asked, ‘Lord, what should I do?’ The Lord said to me, ‘Get up! Go to Damascus. You will be told what to do there.’

¹¹ “I could not see because of the bright light. Those who were with me had to lead me by the hand until we came to Damascus. ¹² Ananias lived there. He obeyed the Law and was respected by all the Jews. ¹³ He came and stood near me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ At once I was able to see him. ¹⁴ Then Ananias said, ‘The God of our fathers chose you to know what He wants done. He chose you to see Jesus Christ, the One Right with God, and to hear His voice. ¹⁵ You are to tell all men what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ What are you waiting for? Get up! Be baptized. Have your sins washed away by calling on His name.’

Paul Is Called to Work with the People Who Are Not Jews

¹⁷ “I came back to Jerusalem. When I was praying in the house of God, I had a dream. ¹⁸ I saw Him as He said to me, ‘Get out of Jerusalem! They will not listen to you when you tell them about Me!’ ¹⁹ I said, ‘Lord, they know I took Christians out of every Jewish place of worship. I had them beaten and put in prison. ²⁰ Also when Stephen was killed, I stood there and watched them throw stones at him. Those who threw the stones had me watch their coats.’ ²¹ The Lord said to me, ‘Go! I will send you far away to the people who are not Jews.’ ” ²² They listened to him until he said that. Then they all cried out with loud voices, “Kill him! Take such a man from the earth! He should not live!” ²³ They kept on calling out. Then they pulled off their coats and threw dust in the air.

Paul Tells Who He Is

²⁴ The captain told them to bring Paul into the soldiers’ building. He told his soldiers to find out from Paul, by beating him, why the people were crying out against him. ²⁵ As they tied him up, Paul said to the soldier, “Does the law say that you can beat a Roman citizen when no one has said he is guilty?”

²⁶ When the soldier heard this, he told it to the captain. He said, “Listen! What are you doing? This man is a Roman citizen.” ²⁷ The captain came and asked Paul, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” Paul said, “Yes!” ²⁸ The captain said, “I had to pay a lot of money to be a citizen.” Paul said, “But I was born a Roman.” ²⁹ Those who were going to beat him left him at once. The captain was also afraid when he heard that Paul was a Roman citizen because he had him tied.

Paul Stands in Front of the Religious Leaders’ Court

³⁰ The next day they took off the chains that were holding Paul. The captain wanted to know why the Jews wanted to kill him. So the captain told the head religious leaders to gather for their court. They brought Paul and put him in front of them.