Old/New Testament
37 Never envy the wicked! 2 Soon they fade away like grass and disappear. 3 Trust in the Lord instead. Be kind and good to others; then you will live safely here in the land and prosper, feeding in safety.
4 Be delighted with the Lord. Then he will give you all your heart’s desires. 5 Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him to help you do it, and he will. 6 Your innocence will be clear to everyone. He will vindicate you with the blazing light of justice shining down as from the noonday sun.
7 Rest in the Lord; wait patiently for him to act. Don’t be envious of evil men who prosper.
8 Stop your anger! Turn off your wrath. Don’t fret and worry—it only leads to harm. 9 For the wicked shall be destroyed, but those who trust the Lord shall be given every blessing. 10 Only a little while and the wicked shall disappear. You will look for them in vain. 11 But all who humble themselves before the Lord shall be given every blessing and shall have wonderful peace.
12-13 The Lord is laughing at those who plot against the godly, for he knows their judgment day is coming. 14 Evil men take aim to slay the poor; they are ready to butcher those who do right. 15 But their swords will be plunged into their own hearts, and all their weapons will be broken.
16 It is better to have little and be godly than to own an evil man’s wealth; 17 for the strength of evil men shall be broken, but the Lord takes care of those he has forgiven.[a]
18 Day by day the Lord observes the good deeds done by godly men,[b] and gives them eternal rewards. 19 He cares for them when times are hard; even in famine, they will have enough. 20 But evil men shall perish. These enemies of God will wither like grass and disappear like smoke. 21 Evil men borrow and “cannot pay it back”! But the good man returns what he owes with some extra besides. 22 Those blessed by the Lord shall inherit the earth, but those cursed by him shall die.
23 The steps of good men are directed by the Lord. He delights in each step they take. 24 If they fall, it isn’t fatal, for the Lord holds them with his hand.
25 I have been young and now I am old. And in all my years I have never seen the Lord forsake a man who loves him; nor have I seen the children of the godly go hungry. 26 Instead, the godly are able to be generous with their gifts and loans to others, and their children are a blessing.
27 So if you want an eternal home, leave your evil, low-down ways and live good lives. 28 For the Lord loves justice and fairness; he will never abandon his people. They will be kept safe forever; but all who love wickedness shall perish.
29 The godly shall be firmly planted in the land and live there forever. 30-31 The godly man is a good counselor because he is just and fair and knows right from wrong.
32 Evil men spy on the godly, waiting for an excuse to accuse them and then demanding their death. 33 But the Lord will not let these evil men succeed, nor let the godly be condemned when they are brought before the judge.
34 Don’t be impatient for the Lord to act! Keep traveling steadily along his pathway and in due season he will honor you with every blessing,[c] and you will see the wicked destroyed. 35-36 I myself have seen it happen: a proud and evil man, towering like a cedar of Lebanon, but when I looked again, he was gone! I searched but could not find him! 37 But the good man—what a different story! For the good man—the blameless, the upright, the man of peace—he has a wonderful future ahead of him. For him there is a happy ending. 38 But evil men shall be destroyed, and their posterity shall be cut off.
39 The Lord saves the godly! He is their salvation and their refuge when trouble comes. 40 Because they trust in him, he helps them and delivers them from the plots of evil men.
38 O Lord, don’t punish me while you are angry! 2 Your arrows have struck deep; your blows are crushing me. 3-4 Because of your anger, my body is sick, my health is broken beneath my sins. They are like a flood, higher than my head; they are a burden too heavy to bear. 5-6 My wounds are festering and full of pus. Because of my sins, I am bent and racked with pain. My days are filled with anguish. 7 My loins burn with inflammation,[d] and my whole body is diseased. 8 I am exhausted and crushed; I groan in despair.[e]
9 Lord, you know how I long for my health once more. You hear my every sigh. 10 My heart beats wildly, my strength fails, and I am going blind. 11 My loved ones and friends stay away, fearing my disease. Even my own family stands at a distance.
12 Meanwhile my enemies are trying to kill me. They plot my ruin and spend all their waking hours planning treachery. 13-14 But I am deaf to all their threats; I am silent before them as a man who cannot speak. I have nothing to say. 15 For I am waiting for you, O Lord my God. Come and protect me. 16 Put an end to their arrogance, these who gloat when I am cast down!
17 How constantly I find myself upon the verge of sin;[f] this source of sorrow always stares me in the face. 18 I confess my sins; I am sorry for what I have done. 19 But my enemies persecute with vigor and continue to hate me—though I have done nothing against them to deserve it. 20 They repay me evil for good and hate me for standing for the right.
21 Don’t leave me, Lord; don’t go away! 22 Come quickly! Help me, O my Savior.
39 I said to myself, I’m going to quit complaining! I’ll keep quiet, especially when the ungodly are around me. 2-3 But as I stood there silently the turmoil within me grew to the bursting point. The more I mused, the hotter the fires inside. Then at last I spoke and pled with God: 4 Lord, help me to realize how brief my time on earth will be. Help me to know that I am here for but a moment more. 5-6 My life is no longer than my hand! My whole lifetime is but a moment to you. Proud man! Frail as breath! A shadow! And all his busy rushing ends in nothing. He heaps up riches for someone else to spend. 7 And so, Lord, my only hope is in you.
8 Save me from being overpowered by my sins, for even fools will mock me then.
9 Lord, I am speechless before you. I will not open my mouth to speak one word of complaint, for my punishment is from you.[g]
10 Lord, don’t hit me anymore—I am exhausted beneath your hand. 11 When you punish a man for his sins, he is destroyed, for he is as fragile as a moth-infested cloth; yes, man is frail as breath.
12 Hear my prayer, O Lord; listen to my cry! Don’t sit back, unmindful of my tears. For I am your guest. I am a traveler passing through the earth, as all my fathers were.
13 Spare me, Lord! Let me recover and be filled with happiness again before my death.
26 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Go ahead. Tell us your story.”
So Paul, with many gestures,[a] presented his defense:
2 “I am fortunate, King Agrippa,” he began, “to be able to present my answer before you, 3 for I know you are an expert on Jewish laws and customs. Now please listen patiently!
4 “As the Jews are well aware, I was given a thorough Jewish training from my earliest childhood in Tarsus[b] and later at Jerusalem, and I lived accordingly. 5 If they would admit it, they know that I have always been the strictest of Pharisees when it comes to obedience to Jewish laws and customs. 6 But the real reason behind their accusations is something else—it is because I am looking forward to the fulfillment of God’s promise made to our ancestors. 7 The twelve tribes of Israel strive night and day to attain this same hope I have! Yet, O King, for me it is a crime, they say! 8 But is it a crime to believe in the resurrection of the dead? Does it seem incredible to you that God can bring men back to life again?
9 “I used to believe that I ought to do many horrible things to the followers of Jesus of Nazareth.[c] 10 I imprisoned many of the saints in Jerusalem, as authorized by the High Priests; and when they were condemned to death, I cast my vote against them. 11 I used torture to try to make Christians everywhere curse Christ. I was so violently opposed to them that I even hounded them in distant cities in foreign lands.
12 “I was on such a mission to Damascus, armed with the authority and commission of the chief priests, 13 when one day about noon, sir, a light from heaven brighter than the sun shone down on me and my companions. 14 We all fell down, and I heard a voice speaking to me in Hebrew, ‘Paul, Paul, why are you persecuting me? You are only hurting yourself.’[d]
15 “‘Who are you, sir?’ I asked.
“And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. 16 Now stand up! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and my witness. You are to tell the world about this experience and about the many other occasions when I shall appear to you. 17 And I will protect you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am going to send you to the Gentiles 18 to open their eyes to their true condition so that they may repent and live in the light of God instead of in Satan’s darkness, so that they may receive forgiveness for their sins and God’s inheritance along with all people everywhere whose sins are cleansed away, who are set apart by faith in me.’
19 “And so, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to that vision from heaven! 20 I preached first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and through Judea, and also to the Gentiles that all must forsake their sins and turn to God—and prove their repentance by doing good deeds. 21 The Jews arrested me in the Temple for preaching this and tried to kill me, 22 but God protected me so that I am still alive today to tell these facts to everyone, both great and small. I teach nothing except what the Prophets and Moses said— 23 that the Messiah would suffer and be the First to rise from the dead, to bring light to Jews and Gentiles alike.”
24 Suddenly Festus shouted, “Paul, you are insane. Your long studying has broken your mind!”
25 But Paul replied, “I am not insane, Most Excellent Festus. I speak words of sober truth. 26 And King Agrippa knows about these things. I speak frankly for I am sure these events are all familiar to him, for they were not done in a corner! 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the Prophets? But I know you do—”
28 Agrippa interrupted him. “With trivial proofs like these,[e] you expect me to become a Christian?”
29 And Paul replied, “Would to God that whether my arguments are trivial or strong, both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am, except for these chains.”
30 Then the king, the governor, Bernice, and all the others stood and left. 31 As they talked it over afterwards they agreed, “This man hasn’t done anything worthy of death or imprisonment.”
32 And Agrippa said to Festus, “He could be set free if he hadn’t appealed to Caesar!”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.