261 Judge me, Yahweh, for I have walked in my integrity.
I have trusted also in Yahweh without wavering. 2 Examine me, Yahweh, and prove me.
Try my heart and my mind. 3 For your loving kindness is before my eyes.
I have walked in your truth. 4 I have not sat with deceitful men,
neither will I go in with hypocrites. 5 I hate the assembly of evildoers,
and will not sit with the wicked.
6 I will wash my hands in innocence,
so I will go about your altar, Yahweh; 7 that I may make the voice of thanksgiving to be heard,
and tell of all your wondrous works. 8 Yahweh, I love the habitation of your house,
the place where your glory dwells. 9 Don’t gather my soul with sinners,
nor my life with bloodthirsty men; 10 in whose hands is wickedness,
their right hand is full of bribes. 11 But as for me, I will walk in my integrity.
Redeem me, and be merciful to me. 12 My foot stands in an even place.
In the congregations I will bless Yahweh.
271 Yahweh is my light and my salvation.
Whom shall I fear?
Yahweh is the strength of my life.
Of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When evildoers came at me to eat up my flesh,
even my adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell. 3 Though an army should encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear.
Though war should rise against me,
even then I will be confident. 4 One thing I have asked of Yahweh, that I will seek after,
that I may dwell in the house of Yahweh all the days of my life,
to see Yahweh’s beauty,
and to inquire in his temple. 5 For in the day of trouble he will keep me secretly in his pavilion.
In the covert of his tabernacle he will hide me.
He will lift me up on a rock. 6 Now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me.
I will offer sacrifices of joy in his tent.
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to Yahweh.
7 Hear, Yahweh, when I cry with my voice.
Have mercy also on me, and answer me. 8 When you said, “Seek my face,”
my heart said to you, “I will seek your face, Yahweh.” 9 Don’t hide your face from me.
Don’t put your servant away in anger.
You have been my help.
Don’t abandon me,
neither forsake me, God of my salvation. 10 When my father and my mother forsake me,
then Yahweh will take me up. 11 Teach me your way, Yahweh.
Lead me in a straight path, because of my enemies. 12 Don’t deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries,
for false witnesses have risen up against me,
such as breathe out cruelty. 13 I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living. 14 Wait for Yahweh.
Be strong, and let your heart take courage.
Yes, wait for Yahweh.
281 To you, Yahweh, I call.
My rock, don’t be deaf to me;
lest, if you are silent to me,
I would become like those who go down into the pit. 2 Hear the voice of my petitions, when I cry to you,
when I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place. 3 Don’t draw me away with the wicked,
with the workers of iniquity who speak peace with their neighbors,
but mischief is in their hearts. 4 Give them according to their work, and according to the wickedness of their doings.
Give them according to the operation of their hands.
Bring back on them what they deserve. 5 Because they don’t respect the works of Yahweh,
nor the operation of his hands,
he will break them down and not build them up.
6 Blessed be Yahweh,
because he has heard the voice of my petitions. 7 Yahweh is my strength and my shield.
My heart has trusted in him, and I am helped.
Therefore my heart greatly rejoices.
With my song I will thank him. 8 Yahweh is their strength.
He is a stronghold of salvation to his anointed. 9 Save your people,
and bless your inheritance.
Be their shepherd also,
and bear them up forever.
221 “Brothers and fathers, listen to the defense which I now make to you.” 2 When they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they were even more quiet. He said,
3 “I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, even as you all are this day. 4 I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. 5 As also the high priest and all the council of the elders testify, from whom also I received letters to the brothers, and traveled to Damascus to bring them also who were there to Jerusalem in bonds to be punished.
6 It happened that, as I made my journey, and came close to Damascus, about noon, suddenly there shone from the sky a great light around me. 7 I fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ 8 I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute.’ 9 “Those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they didn’t understand the voice of him who spoke to me. 10 I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ The Lord said to me, ‘Arise, and go into Damascus. There you will be told about all things which are appointed for you to do.’ 11 When I couldn’t see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus. 12 One Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well reported of by all the Jews who lived in Damascus, 13 came to me, and standing by me said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ In that very hour I looked up at him. 14 He said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth. 15 For you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard. 16 Now why do you wait? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’
17 “It happened that, when I had returned to Jerusalem, and while I prayed in the temple, I fell into a trance, 18 and saw him saying to me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not receive testimony concerning me from you.’ 19 I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue those who believed in you. 20 When the blood of Stephen, your witness, was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting to his death, and guarding the cloaks of those who killed him.’ 21 “He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you out far from here to the Gentiles.’”
22 They listened to him until he said that; then they lifted up their voice, and said, “Rid the earth of this fellow, for he isn’t fit to live!” 23 As they cried out, and threw off their cloaks, and threw dust into the air, 24 the commanding officer commanded him to be brought into the barracks, ordering him to be examined by scourging, that he might know for what crime they shouted against him like that. 25 When they had tied him up with thongs, Paul asked the centurion who stood by, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and not found guilty?” 26 When the centurion heard it, he went to the commanding officer and told him, “Watch what you are about to do, for this man is a Roman!” 27 The commanding officer came and asked him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?”
He said, “Yes.” 28 The commanding officer answered, “I bought my citizenship for a great price.”
Paul said, “But I was born a Roman.” 29 Immediately those who were about to examine him departed from him, and the commanding officer also was afraid when he realized that he was a Roman, because he had bound him.
30 But on the next day, desiring to know the truth about why he was accused by the Jews, he freed him from the bonds, and commanded the chief priests and all the council to come together, and brought Paul down and set him before them.
