Old/New Testament
Psalm 43
A Plea for Vindication
1 Judge me justly, O God,
and plead my case against an ungodly nation.
Rescue me from the deceitful, wicked man.
2 I know you are God, my stronghold.
Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go around mourning
because of oppression by the enemy?
3 Send out your light and your truth.
Let them guide me.
Let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to your dwelling.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God, my joy and gladness.
Then I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.
Refrain
5 Why are you so depressed, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I will again praise him
for my salvation from the face of my God.[a]
Psalm 44
Past Victory—Present Defeat
Heading
For the choir director. By the Sons of Korah. A maskil.
Past Victory
1 God, our ears have heard.
Our fathers have told us the work you performed
in their days, in days long ago.
2 By your hand you drove out the nations,
but you planted your people.
You crushed the peoples,
but you sent your people forward.
3 For it was not by their sword
that they took possession of the land.
It was not their arm that saved them.
It was your right hand and your arm,
and the light from your face,
because you took pleasure in them.
Present Trust
4 You are the one who is my King, O God.
Command victories for Jacob.
5 Through you we drive back our foes.
Through your name we trample our adversaries.
6 For I do not trust in my bow,
and my sword does not save me.
7 But you save us from our foes,
and you put those who hate us to shame.
8 In God we make our boast all day,
and we will praise your name forever. Interlude
Present Defeat
9 But now you have rejected and humbled us,
and you do not go out with our armies.
10 You made us turn back before the foe,
and those who hate us have taken plunder for themselves.
11 You give us up for food like sheep,
and you have scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your people for no great price,
and you have not profited from their sale.
13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors,
scorn and ridicule to those around us.
14 You have made us a laughingstock among the nations,
a reason for the peoples to shake their heads.
15 All day my disgrace is right in front of me,
and the shame on my face covers me,
16 because of the voice of the slanderer and reviler,
because of the enemy and avenger.
17 All this came on us, though we had not forgotten you.
We had not been false to your covenant.
18 Our hearts had not turned back.
Our steps had not slipped off your path.
19 But you crushed us and made us a home for jackals,
and you covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
21 would not God have discovered this,
since he knows the secrets of the heart?
22 Yet for your sake we are killed all day long.
We are considered sheep to be slaughtered.
Present Plea
23 Get up! Why do you sleep, O Lord? Wake up!
Do not reject us forever.
24 Why do you hide your face?
Why do you forget our misery and our oppression?
25 For our souls bow down to the dust.
Our bellies cling to the earth.
26 Stand up! Help us!
Redeem us because of your mercy.
Psalm 45
The Wedding of the Victorious King
Heading
For the choir director. According to “Lilies.”[b]
By the Sons of Korah. A maskil. A love song.
Introduction
1 My heart is bubbling over with a beautiful theme.
I am reciting my works for the King.
My tongue is the pen of a rapid writer.
The Glory of the Royal Groom
2 You are the most beautiful of the sons of Adam.
Grace is poured out on your lips.
Therefore God has blessed you forever.
3 Strap your sword on your thigh, you mighty warrior,
in your splendor and your majesty.
4 In your majesty advance successfully.
Ride forward in the cause of truth, humility, and righteousness.
Let your right hand teach you awesome deeds.
5 Your arrows are sharpened.
Let peoples fall beneath you.
Your arrows are in the heart of the king’s enemies.
6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of justice.
7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy
more than any of your companions.
8 Myrrh, aloes, and cassia perfume all your garments.
From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad.
9 Daughters of kings are among your honored attendants.
The royal wife[c] stands at your right hand in gold from Ophir.
The Beauty of the Bride
10 Hear, O daughter, look and listen.
Forget your people and your father’s house,
11 because the king desires your beauty.
Because he is your lord, bow down to him.
12 Then the daughter of Tyre will come with a gift.
The richest people will seek your favor.
13 The princess, who waits inside, is all glorious.
Her dress is interwoven with gold.
14 In embroidered garments she is led to the king.
Virgins who follow her as attendants are brought to you.
15 They are brought with joyful celebration.
They enter the palace of the king.
The Glory of the King’s Children
16 Your sons will take the place of your fathers.
You will make them princes in all the earth.
17 I will preserve the memory of your name through all generations.
Therefore peoples will praise you forever and ever.
The Shipwreck
27 When the fourteenth night came, while we were being driven back and forth in the Adriatic Sea,[a] about midnight the sailors suspected that they were approaching some land. 28 They took soundings and found it to be one hundred twenty feet deep.[b] After sailing a little farther, they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet deep.[c] 29 Fearing that we would run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daybreak.
30 The sailors tried to escape from the ship and had let down the skiff into the sea, pretending they were going to put out anchors from the bow. 31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “If these men do not stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut the ropes holding the skiff and let it fall away.
33 Just before daybreak, Paul urged them all to eat some food. He said, “This is the fourteenth day you have waited in suspense and have gone without food. You have eaten nothing. 34 Therefore I urge you to take some food because this is important for your rescue. In fact, not a hair from any of your heads will be lost.” 35 After he said these things and had taken some bread, he gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. 36 They were all encouraged and took some food themselves. 37 In all there were 276 of us on the ship. 38 When they had eaten all they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain overboard into the sea.
39 At daybreak, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, where they planned to run the ship aground if they could. 40 They cut off the anchors, leaving them in the sea, and at the same time untied the ropes that held the rudders. Then, after hoisting the foresail to the wind, they headed for the beach. 41 But they struck a sandbar and ran the ship aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, while the stern began to break up from the pounding of the waves.
42 The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners so that no one would swim away and escape. 43 But the centurion wanted to save Paul and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make their way to land. 44 The rest were to follow, some on planks, and some on other pieces from the ship. In this way, all of them were brought safely onto land.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.