Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Maschil of David; A Prayer when he was in the cave.

¹ ¶ I shall cry unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice shall I ask the LORD for mercy.

² I shall pour out my complaint before him; before him I shall tell of my trouble.

³ When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou didst know my path. In the way in which I walked have they secretly laid a snare for me.

⁴ ¶ I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no one that would know me; I had no refuge; no one cared for my soul.

⁵ I cried unto thee, O LORD; I said, Thou art my hope and my portion in the land of the living.

⁶ Attend unto my cry, for I am brought very low; deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.

⁷ Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name; the righteous shall feast with me; when thou shalt have weaned me.

9 ¶ I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and he said, Smite the threshold and shake the doors and cut the head of them all into pieces; and I will slay the last of them with the sword; there shall be none of them left to flee away or to escape.

² Though they dig unto Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down;

³ and though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out of there; and though they hide from my sight in the bottom of the sea, from there will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:

⁴ and though they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I will command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set my eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.

¹² ¶ And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together and they vowed under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.

¹³ And they were more than forty who had made this conspiracy.

¹⁴ And they came to the princes of the priests and the elders and said, We have made a vow of anathema that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul.

¹⁵ Now therefore ye with the council signify to the tribunal that he bring him down unto you tomorrow, as though ye would enquire something more certain concerning him, and we, before he arrives, are ready to kill him.

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.