Answer Me When I Call
To the echoirmaster: with estringed instruments. A Psalm of David.
1 Answer me when I call, O God of my frighteousness!
You have ggiven me relief when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!
2 O men,1 how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
How long will you love vain words and seek after hlies? Selah
3 But know that the Lord has iset apart jthe godly for himself;
the Lord hears when I call to him.
lponder in your own hearts mon your beds, and be silent. Selah
5 Offer nright sacrifices,
and put your otrust in the Lord.
6 There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?
pLift up qthe light of your face upon us, O Lord!”
7 You have put rmore joy in my heart
than they have when their grain and wine abound.
8 In peace I will both slie down and sleep;
for you alone, O Lord, make me tdwell in safety.
Lead Me in Your Righteousness
To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.
1 Give ear to my words, O Lord;
consider my ugroaning.
2 Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my vKing and my God,
for wto you do I pray.
3 O Lord, in xthe morning you hear my voice;
4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you.
5 The zboastful shall not astand before your eyes;
you bhate all evildoers.
6 You destroy those who speak clies;
the Lord abhors dthe bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
7 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house.
I will ebow down ftoward your gholy temple
in the fear of you.
8 hLead me, O Lord, in your righteousness
because of my enemies;
imake your way straight before me.
9 For there is no truth in their mouth;
their inmost self is jdestruction;
ktheir throat is lan open grave;
they mflatter with their tongue.
10 nMake them bear their guilt, O God;
let them ofall by their own counsels;
because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,
for they have rebelled against you.
11 But let all who ptake refuge in you qrejoice;
let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may rexult in you.
12 For you sbless the righteous, O Lord;
O Lord, Deliver My Life
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments; according to vThe Sheminith.4 A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord, wrebuke me not in your anger,
nor xdiscipline me in your wrath.
2 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
yheal me, O Lord, zfor my bones are troubled.
3 My asoul also is greatly troubled.
But you, O Lord—bhow long?
4 Turn, O Lord, deliver my life;
save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
5 For in cdeath there is no remembrance of you;
in Sheol who will give you praise?
6 I am dweary with my emoaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with my weeping.
7 My feye wastes away because of grief;
it grows weak because of all my foes.
8 gDepart from me, all you hworkers of evil,
for the Lord ihas heard the sound of my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my jplea;
the Lord accepts my prayer.
10 All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;
they shall kturn back and be put to shame in a moment.
Paul in Athens
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was gprovoked within him as he saw that the city was hfull of idols. 17 So ihe reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, j“What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because khe was preaching lJesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought him to mthe Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this nnew teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you bring some ostrange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
Paul Addresses the Areopagus
22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: p‘To the unknown god.’ pWhat therefore you worship qas unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 rThe God who made the world and everything in it, being sLord of heaven and earth, tdoes not live in temples made by man,1 25 nor is he served by human hands, uas though he needed anything, since he himself vgives to all mankind wlife and breath and everything. 26 And xhe made from one man every nation of mankind to live yon all the face of the earth, zhaving determined allotted periods and athe boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 bthat they should seek God, cand perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. dYet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for
as even some of fyour own poets have said,
“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’3
29 gBeing then God’s offspring, hwe ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 iThe times of ignorance jGod overlooked, but know he lcommands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed ma day on which nhe will judge the world oin righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and pof this he has given assurance to all qby raising him from the dead.”
32 Now when they heard of rthe resurrection of the dead, ssome mocked. But others said, t“We will hear you again about this.” 33 So Paul went out from their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius uthe Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
