231 Jehovah is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou hast anointed my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely, goodness and loving-kindness shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of Jehovah for the length of the days.
241 The earth is Jehovah's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. 2 For it was he that founded it upon seas, and established it upon floods.
3 Who shall ascend into the mount of Jehovah? and who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He that hath blameless hands and a pure heart; who lifteth not up his soul unto vanity, nor sweareth deceitfully: 5 He shall receive blessing from Jehovah, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 This is the generation of them that seek unto him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.
7 Lift up your heads, ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. 8 Who is this King of glory? Jehovah strong and mighty, Jehovah mighty in battle. 9 Lift up your heads, ye gates; yea, lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. 10 Who is he, this King of glory? Jehovah of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.
251 Unto thee, Jehovah, do I lift up my soul. 2 My God, I confide in thee; let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. 3 Yea, none that wait on thee shall be ashamed: they shall be ashamed that deal treacherously without cause. 4 Make me to know thy ways, O Jehovah; teach me thy paths. 5 Make me to walk in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day. 6 Remember, Jehovah, thy tender mercies and thy loving-kindnesses; for they are from everlasting. 7 Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to thy loving-kindness remember thou me, for thy goodness' sake, Jehovah.
8 Good and upright is Jehovah; therefore will he instruct sinners in the way: 9 The meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his way. 10 All the paths of Jehovah are loving-kindness and truth for such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. 11 For thy name's sake, O Jehovah, thou wilt indeed pardon mine iniquity; for it is great. 12 What man is he that feareth Jehovah? him will he instruct in the way [that] he should choose. 13 His soul shall dwell in prosperity, and his seed shall inherit the earth. 14 The secret of Jehovah is with them that fear him, that he may make known his covenant to them.
15 Mine eyes are ever toward Jehovah; for he will bring my feet out of the net. 16 Turn toward me, and be gracious unto me; for I am solitary and afflicted. 17 The troubles of my heart are increased: bring me out of my distresses; 18 Consider mine affliction and my travail, and forgive all my sins. 19 Consider mine enemies, for they are many, and they hate me [with] cruel hatred. 20 Keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I trust in thee. 21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee. 22 Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.
18 And on the morrow Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders came there. 19 And having saluted them, he related one by one the things which God had wrought among the nations by his ministry. 20 And they having heard [it] glorified God, and said to him, Thou seest, brother, how many myriads there are of the Jews who have believed, and all are zealous of the law. 21 And they have been informed concerning thee, that thou teachest all the Jews among the nations apostasy from Moses, saying that they should not circumcise their children, nor walk in the customs. 22 What is it then? a multitude must necessarily come together, for they will hear that thou art come. 23 This do therefore that we say to thee: We have four men who have a vow on them; 24 take these and be purified with them, and pay their expenses, that they may have their heads shaved; and all will know that [of those things] of which they have been informed about thee nothing is [true]; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, keeping the law. 25 But concerning [those of] the nations who have believed, we have written, deciding that they should [observe no such thing, only to] keep themselves both from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication. 26 Then Paul, taking the men, on the next day, having been purified, entered with them into the temple, signifying the time the days of the purification would be fulfilled, until the offering was offered for every one of them.
27 And when the seven days were nearly completed, the Jews from Asia, having seen him in the temple, set all the crowd in a tumult, and laid hands upon him, 28 crying, Israelites, help! this is the man who teaches all everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place, and has brought Greeks too into the temple, and profaned this holy place. 29 For they had before seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple. 30 And the whole city was moved, and there was a concourse of the people; and having laid hold on Paul they drew him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut. 31 And as they were seeking to kill him, a representation came to the chiliarch of the band that the whole of Jerusalem was in a tumult; 32 who, taking with him immediately soldiers and centurions, ran down upon them. But they, seeing the chiliarch and the soldiers, ceased beating Paul. 33 Then the chiliarch came up and laid hold upon him, and commanded [him] to be bound with two chains, and inquired who he might be, and what he had done. 34 And different persons cried some different thing in the crowd. But he, not being able to know the certainty on account of the uproar, commanded him to be brought into the fortress. 35 But when he got upon the stairs it was so that he was borne by the soldiers on account of the violence of the crowd. 36 For the multitude of the people followed, crying, Away with him.
37 But as he was about to be led into the fortress, Paul says to the chiliarch, Is it allowed me to say something to thee? And he said, Dost thou know Greek? 38 Thou art not then that Egyptian who before these days raised a sedition and led out into the wilderness the four thousand men of the assassins? 39 But Paul said, I am a Jew of Tarsus, citizen of no insignificant city of Cilicia, and I beseech of thee, allow me to speak to the people. 40 And when he had allowed him, Paul, standing on the stairs, beckoned with his hand to the people; and a great silence having been made, he addressed them in the Hebrew tongue, saying,
(Read Acts 21:8-18)
Paul had express warning of his troubles, that when they came, they might be no surprise or terror to him. The general notice given us, that through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God, should be of the same use to us. Their weeping began to weaken and slacken his resolution Has not our Master told us to take up our cross? It was a trouble to him, that they should so earnestly press him to do that in which he could not gratify them without wronging his conscience. When we see trouble coming, it becomes us to say, not only, The will of the Lord must be done, and there is no remedy; but, Let the will of the Lord be done; for his will is his wisdom, and he doeth all according to the counsel of it. When a trouble is come, this must allay our griefs, that the will of the Lord is done; when we see it coming, this must silence our fears, that the will of the Lord shall be done; and we ought to say, Amen, let it be done. It is honourable to be an old disciple of Jesus Christ, to have been enabled by the grace of God to continue long in a course of duty, stedfast in the faith, growing more and more experienced, to a good old age. And with these old disciples one would choose to lodge; for the multitude of their years shall teach wisdom. Many brethren at Jerusalem received Paul gladly. We think, perhaps, that if we had him among us, we should gladly receive him; but we should not, if, having his doctrine, we do not gladly receive that.
(Read Acts 21:19-26)
Paul ascribed all his success to God, and to God they gave the praise. God had honoured him more than any of the apostles, yet they did not envy him; but on the contrary, glorified the Lord. They could not do more to encourage Paul to go on cheerfully in his work. James and the elders of the church at Jerusalem, asked Paul to gratify the believing Jews, by some compliance with the ceremonial law. They thought it was prudent in him to conform thus far. It was great weakness to be so fond of the shadows, when the substance was come. The religion Paul preached, tended not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it. He preached Christ, the end of the law for righteousness, and repentance and faith, in which we are to make great use of the law. The weakness and evil of the human heart strongly appear, when we consider how many, even of the disciples of Christ, had not due regard to the most eminent minister that even lived. Not the excellence of his character, nor the success with which God blessed his labours, could gain their esteem and affection, seeing that he did not render the same respect as themselves to mere ceremonial observances. How watchful should we be against prejudices! The apostles were not free from blame in all they did; and it would be hard to defend Paul from the charge of giving way too much in this matter. It is vain to attempt to court the favour of zealots, or bigots to a party. This compliance of Paul did not answer, for the very thing by which he hoped to pacify the Jews, provoked them, and brought him into trouble. But the all-wise God overruled both their advice and Paul's compliance with it, to serve a better purpose than was intended. It was in vain to think of pleasing men who would be pleased with nothing but the rooting out of Christianity. Integrity and uprightness will be more likely to preserve us than insincere compliances. And it should warn us not to press men to doing what is contrary to their own judgment to oblige us.
(Read Acts 21:27-40)
In the temple, where Paul should have been protected as in a place of safety, he was violently set upon. They falsely charged him with ill doctrine and ill practice against the Mosaic ceremonies. It is no new thing for those who mean honestly and act regularly, to have things laid to their charge which they know not and never thought of. It is common for the wise and good to have that charged against them by malicious people, with which they thought to have obliged them. God often makes those a protection to his people, who have no affection to them, but only have compassion for sufferers, and regard to the public peace. And here see what false, mistaken notions of good people and good ministers, many run away with. But God seasonably interposes for the safety of his servants, from wicked and unreasonable men; and gives them opportunities to speak for themselves, to plead for the Redeemer, and to spread abroad his glorious gospel.
