Old/New Testament

Prayer to Be Kept Safe

43 Stand by me, O God, and speak in my favor against a sinful nation. Save me from the lying and sinful man. ² For You are the God of my strength. Why have You turned away from me? Why do I have sorrow because those who hate me come against me with power?

³ Send out Your light and Your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to Your holy hill and to the places where You live. ⁴ Then I will go to the altar of God, the God of my joy. And I will praise You with the harp, O God, my God.

⁵ Why are you sad, O my soul? Why have you become troubled within me? Hope in God, for I will praise Him again, my help and my God.

Prayer because of Troubles

44 O God, we have heard with our ears. Our fathers have told us what work You did in their days, in the days long ago. ² With Your own hand You made the nations leave, and put our fathers in the land. You brought trouble upon the nations, and You spread them out. ³ It was not by their sword that they took the land. Their own arm did not save them. But it was Your right hand, and Your arm, and the light of Your face, for You favored them.

⁴ You are my King, O God. Jacob wins because You say it must be so. ⁵ Through You we will push away those who hate us. Through Your name we will walk over those who rise up against us. ⁶ For I will not trust my bow, and my sword will not save me. ⁷ But You have saved us from those who fight against us. You have put to shame those who hate us. ⁸ In God we have had our pride all day long. And we will give thanks to Your name forever.

⁹ But now You have turned from us and have put us to shame. You do not go out with our armies. ¹⁰ You made us turn away from those who fight against us. And those who hate us have robbed us. ¹¹ You give us up to be eaten like sheep. You have spread us out among the nations. ¹² You sell Your people for nothing, and become no richer from their price. ¹³ You have made us a shame to our neighbors. Those around us laugh and make fun of us. ¹⁴ You have made us hated among the nations. The people laugh at us. ¹⁵ All day long my shame is with me and has become too much for me. ¹⁶ Those who talk against me, and who hate me are around me and want to punish me.

¹⁷ All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You. We have not been false to Your agreement. ¹⁸ Our heart has not turned away. And our steps have not turned from Your way. ¹⁹ But You have crushed us in a place of wild dogs, and covered us with the shadow of death.

²⁰ If we had forgotten the name of our God, or put out our hands to a strange god, ²¹ would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart. ²² But we are killed all day long because of You. We are thought of as sheep that are ready to be killed. ²³ Awake, O Lord! Why do You sleep? Rise up! Do not turn away from us forever. ²⁴ Why do You hide Your face? Why do You forget our troubles and our suffering? ²⁵ For our soul is brought down to the dust. Our body holds on to the earth. ²⁶ Rise up and help us! Save us because of Your loving-kindness.

The King’s Wedding Song

45 My heart flows over with good words. I sing my songs to the King. My tongue writes the words of a good writer. ² You are more beautiful than the children of men. Loving-favor is poured upon Your lips. So God has honored You forever.

³ Put Your sword on at Your side, O Powerful One, in Your greatness and power that can be seen. ⁴ And in Your great power, move on to win the fight for truth and for not having pride and for what is right and good. Let Your right hand teach You to do great things. ⁵ Your arrows are sharp. The people fall under You. Your arrows are in the heart of those who hate the King.

⁶ O God, Your throne is forever and ever. You rule Your holy nation by what is right. ⁷ You have loved what is right and good. You have hated what is wrong. That is why God, Your God, has chosen You. He has poured over You the oil of joy more than over anyone else. ⁸ All Your clothes smell of fine perfumes. Out of ivory palaces music of strings have made You glad. ⁹ Daughters of kings are among Your women of honor. At Your right hand stands the queen, wearing gold from Ophir.

¹⁰ Listen, O daughter, hear my words and think about them. Forget your people and your father’s house. ¹¹ Then the King will desire your beauty. Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him. ¹² And the daughter of Tyre will come with a gift. The rich people will ask for your favor.

¹³ The daughter of the King is beautiful within. Her clothes are made with gold. ¹⁴ She will be led to the King in clothes sewed for beauty. The young women who have never had men are her friends. They follow her and will be brought to You. ¹⁵ They will be led in with joy and happiness, because they will come into the King’s palace.

¹⁶ Instead of Your fathers, it will be Your sons whom You will make rulers over all the earth. ¹⁷ I will make Your name to be remembered to all the children-to-come. So that the nations will honor You forever and ever.

²⁷ It was now the fourteenth night. We were going with the wind on the Adriatic Sea. At midnight the sailors thought land was near. ²⁸ They let down the lead weight and found the water was not very deep. After they had gone a little farther, they found there was not as much water. ²⁹ They were afraid we might be thrown against the rocks on the shore. So they put out four anchors from the back of the ship. Then they waited for morning to come.

³⁰ The sailors were thinking of leaving the ship. They let down a boat as if they were going to put out anchors from the front of the ship. ³¹ But Paul said to the captain and the soldiers, “These men must stay on the ship or you cannot be safe!” ³² Then the soldiers cut the ropes and let the boat fall into the sea.

³³ Just before the light of day came, Paul told all of them to eat. He said, “Today is the fourteenth day you have not eaten. ³⁴ You must eat. It will give you strength. Not one of you will lose a hair from your head.”

³⁵ After he said this, he took some bread. He gave thanks to God in front of them all. He broke it in pieces and started to eat. ³⁶ They all were comforted. Each one ate some food. ³⁷ All together there were 276 of us on the ship. ³⁸ After they had eaten, they threw the wheat into the sea so the ship would not be as heavy.

³⁹ In the morning they could not see what land they were near. Later they could see a river. Near its mouth there was a shore of sand. They planned to run the ship onto the sand if they could. ⁴⁰ The anchors were cut loose and left in the sea. Then they took the ropes off that were holding the rudder. When they put up the sail, the wind took the ship toward shore. ⁴¹ But the ship hit a place where the water was low. It was made from where two seas meet. The front of the ship did not move but the back part broke in pieces by the high waves.

⁴² The soldiers planned to kill the men in chains. They were afraid they would swim to shore and get away, ⁴³ but the captain wanted to save Paul. He kept them from their plan. Calling out to those who could swim, he told them to jump into the sea and swim to shore. ⁴⁴ The others should use wood or anything from the ship. In this way, they all got to shore without getting hurt.