A Protestation of Integrity

261 Judge me, O Jehovah, for I have walked in mine integrity, and I have confided in Jehovah: I shall not slip. 2 Prove me, Jehovah, and test me; try my reins and my heart: 3 For thy loving-kindness is before mine eyes, and I have walked in thy truth. 4 I have not sat with vain persons, neither have I gone in with dissemblers; 5 I have hated the congregation of evil-doers, and I have not sat with the wicked.

6 I will wash my hands in innocency, and will encompass thine altar, O Jehovah, 7 That I may cause the voice of thanksgiving to be heard, and declare all thy marvellous works. 8 Jehovah, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thy glory dwelleth. 9 Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with men of blood; 10 In whose hands are evil devices, and their right hand is full of bribes. 11 But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity. Redeem me, and be gracious unto me. 12 My foot standeth in an even place; in the congregations will I bless Jehovah.

The LORD Is My Light and My Salvation

271 Jehovah is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? Jehovah is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When evil-doers, mine adversaries and mine enemies, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. 3 If a host encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; if war rise against me, in this will I be confident. 4 One [thing] have I asked of Jehovah, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Jehovah, and to inquire [of him] in his temple. 5 For in the day of evil he will hide me in his pavilion; in the secret of his tent will he keep me concealed: he will set me high upon a rock. 6 And now shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me; and I will offer in his tent sacrifices of shouts of joy: I will sing, yea, I will sing psalms unto Jehovah.

7 Hear, Jehovah; with my voice do I call; be gracious unto me, and answer me. 8 My heart said for thee, Seek ye my face. Thy face, O Jehovah, will I seek. 9 Hide not thy face from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; cast me not off, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. 10 For had my father and my mother forsaken me, then had Jehovah taken me up. 11 Teach me thy way, Jehovah, and lead me in an even path, because of mine enemies. 12 Deliver me not over to the will of mine adversaries; for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out violence. 13 Unless I had believed to see the goodness of Jehovah in the land of the living ...! 14 Wait for Jehovah; be strong and let thy heart take courage: yea, wait for Jehovah.

A Prayer for Help and Praise for Its Answer

281 Unto thee, Jehovah, do I call; my rock, be not silent unto me, lest, [if] thou keep silence toward me, I become like them that go down into the pit. 2 Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward the oracle of thy holiness. 3 Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace to their neighbours, and mischief is in their heart. 4 Give them according to their doing, and according to the wickedness of their deeds; give them after the work of their hands, render to them their desert. 5 For they regard not the deeds of Jehovah, nor the work of his hands: he will destroy them, and not build them up.

6 Blessed be Jehovah, for he hath heard the voice of my supplications. 7 Jehovah is my strength and my shield; my heart confided in him, and I was helped: therefore my heart exulteth, and with my song will I praise him. 8 Jehovah is their strength; and he is the stronghold of salvation to his anointed one. 9 Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance; and feed them, and lift them up for ever.

221 Brethren and fathers, hear my defence which I now make to you. 2 And hearing that he addressed them in the Hebrew tongue, they kept the more quiet; and he says,

3 I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, at the feet of Gamaliel, educated according to [the] exactness of the law of [our] fathers, being zealous for God, as ye are all this day; 4 who have persecuted this way unto death, binding and delivering up to prisons both men and women; 5 as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the elderhood: from whom also, having received letters to the brethren, I went to Damascus to bring those also who were there, bound, to Jerusalem, to be punished.

Paul Tells of His Conversion

6 And it came to pass, as I was journeying and drawing near to Damascus, that, about mid-day, there suddenly shone out of heaven a great light round about me. 7 And I fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus the Nazaraean, whom thou persecutest. 9 But they that were with me beheld the light, [and were filled with fear], but heard not the voice of him that was speaking to me. 10 And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Rise up, and go to Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all things which it is appointed thee to do. 11 And as I could not see, through the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came to Damascus. 12 And a certain Ananias, a pious man according to the law, borne witness to by all the Jews who dwelt [there], 13 coming to me and standing by me, said to me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And I, in the same hour, received my sight and saw him. 14 And he said, The God of our fathers has chosen thee beforehand to know his will, and to see the just one, and to hear a voice out of his mouth; 15 for thou shalt be a witness for him to all men of what thou hast seen and heard. 16 And now why lingerest thou? Arise and get baptised, and have thy sins washed away, calling on his name.

Paul's Call to the Gentiles

17 And it came to pass when I had returned to Jerusalem, and as I was praying in the temple, that I became in ecstasy, 18 and saw him saying to me, Make haste and go quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. 19 And I said, Lord, they themselves know that I was imprisoning and beating in every synagogue those that believe on thee; 20 and when the blood of thy witness Stephen was shed, I also myself was standing by and consenting, and kept the clothes of them who killed him. 21 And he said to me, Go, for I will send thee to the nations afar off.

Paul in the Custody of the Chief Captain

22 And they heard him until this word, and lifted up their voice, saying, Away with such a one as that from the earth, for it was not fit he should live. 23 And as they were crying, and throwing away their clothes, and casting dust into the air, 24 the chiliarch commanded him to be brought into the fortress, saying that he should be examined by scourging, that he might ascertain for what cause they cried thus against him. 25 But as they stretched him forward with the thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood [by], Is it lawful for you to scourge a man [who is] a Roman and uncondemned? 26 And the centurion, having heard it, went and reported it to the chiliarch, saying, What art thou going to do? for this man is a Roman. 27 And the chiliarch coming up said to him, Tell me, Art thou a Roman? And he said, Yes. 28 And the chiliarch answered, I, for a great sum, bought this citizenship. And Paul said, But I was also [free] born. 29 Immediately therefore those who were going to examine him left him, and the chiliarch also was afraid when he ascertained that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.

Paul before the Council

30 And on the morrow, desirous to know the certainty [of the matter] why he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him, and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and having brought Paul down set him before them.