A Prayer for Vindication

71 Yahweh, my God, I take refuge in you.
Save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me, 2 lest they tear apart my soul like a lion,
ripping it in pieces, while there is none to deliver. 3 Yahweh, my God, if I have done this,
if there is iniquity in my hands, 4 if I have rewarded evil to him who was at peace with me
(yes, if I have delivered him who without cause was my adversary), 5 let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it;
yes, let him tread my life down to the earth,
and lay my glory in the dust. Selah. 6 Arise, Yahweh, in your anger.
Lift up yourself against the rage of my adversaries.
Awake for me. You have commanded judgment. 7 Let the congregation of the peoples surround you.
Rule over them on high. 8 Yahweh administers judgment to the peoples.
Judge me, Yahweh, according to my righteousness,
and to my integrity that is in me. 9 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end,
but establish the righteous;
their minds and hearts are searched by the righteous God.

10 My shield is with God,
who saves the upright in heart. 11 God is a righteous judge,
yes, a God who has indignation every day. 12 If a man doesn’t relent, he will sharpen his sword;
he has bent and strung his bow. 13 He has also prepared for himself the instruments of death.
He makes ready his flaming arrows. 14 Behold, he travails with iniquity.
Yes, he has conceived mischief,
and brought forth falsehood. 15 He has dug a hole,
and has fallen into the pit which he made. 16 The trouble he causes shall return to his own head.
His violence shall come down on the crown of his own head. 17 I will give thanks to Yahweh according to his righteousness,
and will sing praise to the name of Yahweh Most High.

God's Glory and Man's Honor

81 Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth,
who has set your glory above the heavens! 2 From the lips of babes and infants you have established strength,
because of your adversaries, that you might silence the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have ordained; 4 what is man, that you think of him?
What is the son of man, that you care for him? 5 For you have made him a little lower than God, [1]
and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You make him ruler over the works of your hands.
You have put all things under his feet: 7 All sheep and cattle,
yes, and the animals of the field, 8 The birds of the sky, the fish of the sea,
and whatever passes through the paths of the seas. 9 Yahweh, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Thanksgiving for God's Justice

91 I will give thanks to Yahweh with my whole heart.
I will tell of all your marvelous works. 2 I will be glad and rejoice in you.
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. 3 When my enemies turn back,
they stumble and perish in your presence. 4 For you have maintained my just cause.
You sit on the throne judging righteously. 5 You have rebuked the nations.
You have destroyed the wicked.
You have blotted out their name forever and ever. 6 The enemy is overtaken by endless ruin.
The very memory of the cities which you have overthrown has perished. 7 But Yahweh reigns forever.
He has prepared his throne for judgment. 8 He will judge the world in righteousness.
He will administer judgment to the peoples in uprightness. 9 Yahweh will also be a high tower for the oppressed;
a high tower in times of trouble. 10 Those who know your name will put their trust in you,
for you, Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek you.

11 Sing praises to Yahweh, who dwells in Zion,
and declare among the people what he has done. 12 For he who avenges blood remembers them.
He doesn’t forget the cry of the afflicted. 13 Have mercy on me, Yahweh.
See my affliction by those who hate me,
and lift me up from the gates of death; 14 that I may show forth all your praise.
In the gates of the daughter of Zion, I will rejoice in your salvation. 15 The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made.
In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken. 16 Yahweh has made himself known.
He has executed judgment.
The wicked is snared by the work of his own hands.
Meditation. Selah. 17 The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol,
even all the nations that forget God. 18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
nor the hope of the poor perish forever. 19 Arise, Yahweh! Don’t let man prevail.
Let the nations be judged in your sight. 20 Put them in fear, Yahweh.
Let the nations know that they are only men. Selah.

Paul at Corinth

181 After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth. 2 He found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race, who had recently come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. He came to them, 3 and because he practiced the same trade, he lived with them and worked, for by trade they were tent makers. 4 He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded Jews and Greeks. 5 But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. 6 When they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook out his clothing and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles!”

7 He departed there, and went into the house of a certain man named Justus, one who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his house. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized. 9 The Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Don’t be afraid, but speak and don’t be silent; 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many people in this city.” 11 He lived there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

12 But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat, 13 saying, “This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.” 14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If indeed it were a matter of wrong or of wicked crime, you Jews, it would be reasonable that I should bear with you; 15 but if they are questions about words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves. For I don’t want to be a judge of these matters.” 16 He drove them from the judgment seat. 17 Then all the Greeks laid hold on Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. Gallio didn’t care about any of these things.

18 Paul, having stayed after this many more days, took his leave of the brothers, [2] and sailed from there for Syria, together with Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head in Cenchreae, for he had a vow. 19 He came to Ephesus, and he left them there; but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to stay with them a longer time, he declined; 21 but taking his leave of them, and saying, “I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem, but I will return again to you if God wills,” he set sail from Ephesus.

Paul Returns to Antioch and Begins the Third Missionary Journey

22 When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the assembly, and went down to Antioch. 23 Having spent some time there, he departed, and went through the region of Galatia, and Phrygia, in order, establishing all the disciples.

Apollos Preaches at Ephesus

24 Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by race, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus. He was mighty in the Scriptures. 25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside, and explained to him the way of God more accurately. 27 When he had determined to pass over into Achaia, the brothers encouraged him, and wrote to the disciples to receive him. When he had come, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace; 28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews, publicly showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.