Praise to the Creator and Preserver

331 Be glad in the Lord, O doers of righteousness; for praise is beautiful for the upright. 2 Give praise to the Lord on the corded instrument; make melody to him with instruments of music. 3 Make a new song to him; playing expertly with a loud noise. 4 For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his works are certain. 5 His delight is in righteousness and wisdom; the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord. 6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the army of heaven by the breath of his mouth. 7 He makes the waters of the sea come together in a mass; he keeps the deep seas in store-houses. 8 Let the earth be full of the fear of the Lord; let all the people of the world be in holy fear of him. 9 For he gave the word, and it was done; by his order it was fixed for ever. 10 The Lord undoes the designs of the nations; he makes the thoughts of the peoples without effect. 11 The Lord's purpose is eternal, the designs of his heart go on through all the generations of man.

12 Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he has taken for his heritage. 13 The Lord is looking down from heaven; he sees all the sons of men; 14 From his house he keeps watch on all who are living on the earth; 15 He makes all their hearts; their works are clear to him. 16 A king's salvation is not in the power of his army; a strong man does not get free by his great strength. 17 A horse is a false hope; his great power will not make any man free from danger. 18 See, the eye of the Lord is on those in whose hearts is the fear of him, on those whose hope is in his mercy; 19 To keep their souls from death; and to keep them living in time of need. 20 Our souls are waiting for the Lord; he is our help and our salvation. 21 For in him our hearts have joy; in his holy name is our hope. 22 Let your mercy be on us, O Lord, as we are waiting for you.

Praise for Deliverance from Troubles

341 I will be blessing the Lord at all times; his praise will be ever in my mouth. 2 My soul will say great things of the Lord: the poor in spirit will have knowledge of it and be glad. 3 O give praise to the Lord with me; let us be witnesses together of his great name. 4 I was searching for the Lord, and he gave ear to my voice, and made me free from all my fears. 5 Let your eyes be turned to him and you will have light, and your faces will not be shamed. 6 This poor man's cry came before the Lord, and he gave him salvation from all his troubles. 7 The angel of the Lord is ever watching over those who have fear of him, to keep them safe. 8 By experience you will see that the Lord is good; happy is the man who has faith in him. 9 Keep yourselves in the fear of the Lord, all you his saints; for those who do so will have no need of anything. 10 The young lions are in need and have no food; but those who are looking to the Lord will have every good thing.

11 Come, children, give attention to me; I will be your teacher in the fear of the Lord. 12 What man has a love of life, and a desire that his days may be increased so that he may see good? 13 Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from words of deceit. 14 Be turned from evil, and do good; make a search for peace, desiring it with all your heart. 15 The eyes of the Lord are on the upright, and his ears are open to their cry. 16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to take away the memory of them from the earth. 17 The cry of the upright comes before the Lord, and he takes them out of all their troubles. 18 The Lord is near the broken-hearted; he is the saviour of those whose spirits are crushed down. 19 Great are the troubles of the upright: but the Lord takes him safely out of them all. 20 He keeps all his bones: not one of them is broken. 21 Evil will put an end to the sinner, and those who are haters of righteousness will come to destruction. 22 The Lord will be the saviour of the souls of his servants, and no one who has faith in him will be put to shame.

Paul's Defense before Felix

241 And after five days, the high priest, Ananias, came with certain of the rulers, and an expert talker, one Tertullus; and they made a statement to Felix against Paul. 2 And when he had been sent for, Tertullus, starting his statement, said, Because by you we are living in peace, and through your wisdom wrongs are put right for this nation, 3 In all things and in all places we are conscious of our great debt to you, most noble Felix. 4 But, so that I may not make you tired, I make a request to you of your mercy, to give hearing to a short statement. 5 For this man, in our opinion, is a cause of trouble, a maker of attacks on the government among Jews through all the empire, and a chief mover in the society of the Nazarenes: 6 Who, in addition, was attempting to make the Temple unclean: whom we took, 7 [] 8 And from whom you will be able, by questioning him yourself, to get knowledge of all the things which we say against him. 9 And the Jews were in agreement with his statement, saying that these things were so.

10 Then when the ruler had given him a sign to make his answer, Paul said, Because I have knowledge that you have been a judge over this nation for a number of years, I am glad to make my answer: 11 Seeing that you are able to make certain of the fact that it is not more than twelve days from the time when I came up to Jerusalem for worship; 12 And they have not seen me in argument with any man in the Temple, or working up the feelings of the people, in the Synagogues or in the town: 13 And they are not able to give facts in support of the things which they say against me now. 14 But this I will say openly to you, that I do give worship to the God of our fathers after that Way, which to them is not the true religion: but I have belief in all the things which are in the law and in the books of the prophets: 15 Hoping in God for that which they themselves are looking for, that there will be a coming back from the dead for upright men and wrongdoers. 16 And in this, I do my best at all times to have no reason for shame before God or men. 17 Now after a number of years I came to give help and offerings to my nation: 18 And having been made clean, I was in the Temple, but not with a great number of people, and not with noise: but there were certain Jews from Asia, 19 And it would have been better if they had come here to make a statement, if they have anything against me. 20 Or let these men here present say what wrongdoing was seen in me when I was before the Sanhedrin, 21 But only this one thing which I said among them in a loud voice, I am this day being judged on the question of the coming back from the dead.

22 But Felix, who had a more detailed knowledge of the Way, put them off, saying, When Lysias, the chief captain, comes down, I will give attention to your business. 23 And he gave orders to the captain to keep Paul under his control, and to let him have everything he had need of; and not to keep his friends from coming to see him. 24 But after some days, Felix came with Drusilla his wife, who was of the Jews by birth, and sent for Paul, and gave hearing to him about faith in Christ Jesus. 25 And while he was talking about righteousness and self-control and the judging which was to come, Felix had great fear and said, Go away for the present, and when the right time comes I will send for you. 26 For he was hoping that Paul would give him money: so he sent for him more frequently and had talk with him. 27 But after two years Porcius Festus took the place of Felix, who, desiring to have the approval of the Jews, kept Paul in chains.