Old/New Testament
To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ In thee, O LORD, have I waited; let me never be ashamed; deliver me in thy righteousness.
2 Incline thine ear unto me; deliver me speedily; be thou my strong rock, for a house of defence to save me.
3 For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s sake thou shalt lead me and guide me.
4 Thou shalt pull me out of the net that they have laid in secret for me; for thou art my strength.
5 Into thy hand shall I commit my spirit; thou shalt ransom me, O LORD God of truth.
6 I have hated those that regard lying vanities; but I wait in the LORD.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy, for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities
8 and hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy; thou hast set my feet in a wide place.
9 ¶ Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: my eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.
10 For my life is spent with grief and my years with sighing: my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones are consumed.
11 I was a reproach among all my enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to my acquaintances: those that see me without flee from me.
12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I have become like a lost vessel.
13 For I have heard the slander of many; fear was on every side; while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.
14 But I trusted in thee, O LORD; I said, Thou art my God.
15 My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those that persecute me.
16 Make thy face to shine upon thy slave; save me for thy mercies’ sake.
17 Let me not be ashamed, O LORD, for I have called upon thee; let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be cut off for Sheol.
18 Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.
19 ¶ Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for those that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for those that wait in thee before the sons of men!
20 Thou shalt keep them in the secret place of thy face from the pride of man; thou shalt keep them in the tabernacle protected from the strife of tongues.
21 Blessed be the LORD, for he has shown me his marvellous mercy in a strong city.
22 For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes; nevertheless thou hast heard the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.
23 O love the LORD, all ye his merciful ones, for the LORD preserves the faithful and plentifully rewards the proud doer.
24 Be of good courage and strengthen your hearts, all ye that wait in the LORD.
A Psalm of David, Maschil.
1 ¶ Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD does not impute iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile.
3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my green growth is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and I have not hid my iniquity. I said, I will confess (against myself) my rebellions unto the LORD, and thou shalt forgive the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
6 For this shall every one that is merciful pray unto thee in the time when thou may be found; surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come near unto him.
7 ¶ Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go; I will fix mine eyes upon thee.
9 Be ye not as the horse or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in subjection with bit and bridle, or they will not come near unto thee.
10 There are many sorrows for the wicked; but he that waits in the LORD, mercy shall compass him round about.
11 Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, ye righteous, and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
16 And when Paul’s sister’s son heard of their ambush, he went and entered into the fortress and told Paul.
17 Then Paul called one of the centurions unto him and said, Bring this young man unto the tribunal, for he has a certain thing to tell him.
18 So he took him and brought him to the tribunal and said, Paul the prisoner called me unto him and asked me to bring this young man unto thee, who has something to say unto thee.
19 Then the tribunal took him by the hand and went with him aside privately and asked him, What is that thou hast to tell me?
20 And he said, The Jews have agreed to ask thee that thou would bring down Paul tomorrow into the council, as though they would enquire something more certain of him.
21 But do not believe them, for more than forty of them lie in wait to ambush him, who have vowed under a curse that they will neither eat nor drink until they have killed him, and now they are ready, looking for a promise from thee.
22 So the tribunal then let the young man depart and charged him, See thou tell no one that thou hast showed these things to me.
23 And he called unto him two centurions, saying, Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea and seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen, at the third hour of the night
24 and provide them beasts that they may set Paul on and bring him safe unto Felix the governor.
25 And he wrote a letter after this manner:
26 Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent governor Felix sends greeting.
27 This man was taken of the Jews and should have been killed by them; then I came with an army and rescued him, having understood that he was a Roman.
28 And when I desired to know the cause of why they accused him, I brought him forth into their council,
29 whom I found to be accused of questions of their law, but to have nothing laid to his charge worthy of death or of bonds.
30 And when it was told me how the Jews lay in wait to ambush the man, I sent straightway to thee and gave commandment to his accusers also to say before thee what they had against him. Farewell.
31 Then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris.
32 On the next day they left the horsemen to go with him and returned to the fortress,
33 who, when they came to Caesarea and delivered the epistle to the governor, presented Paul also before him.
34 And when the governor had read the letter, he asked of what province he was. And when he understood that he was of Cilicia,
35 I will hear thee, said he, when thine accusers are also come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod’s judgment hall.
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