Psalm 10
NEED FOR GOD’S JUSTICE
Lord, why do you stand so far away?
Why do you hide in times of trouble?
2 In arrogance the wicked relentlessly pursue their victims;
let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.
3 For the wicked one boasts about his own cravings;
the one who is greedy curses and despises the Lord.
4 In all his scheming,
the wicked person arrogantly thinks,
“There’s no accountability,
since there’s no God.”
5 His ways are always secure;
your lofty judgments have no effect on him;
he scoffs at all his adversaries.
6 He says to himself, “I will never be moved —
from generation to generation I will be without calamity.”
7 Cursing, deceit, and violence fill his mouth;
trouble and malice are under his tongue.
8 He waits in ambush near settlements;
he kills the innocent in secret places.
His eyes are on the lookout for the helpless;
9 he lurks in secret like a lion in a thicket.
He lurks in order to seize a victim;
he seizes a victim and drags him in his net.
10 So he is oppressed and beaten down;
helpless people fall because of the wicked one’s strength.
11 He says to himself, “God has forgotten;
he hides his face and will never see.”
12 Rise up, Lord God! Lift up your hand.
Do not forget the oppressed.
13 Why has the wicked person despised God?
He says to himself, “You will not demand an account.”
14 But you yourself have seen trouble and grief,
observing it in order to take the matter into your hands.
The helpless one entrusts himself to you;
you are a helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked, evil person,
until you look for his wickedness,
but it can’t be found.
16 The Lord is King forever and ever;
the nations will perish from his land.
17 Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble;
you will strengthen their hearts.
You will listen carefully,
18 doing justice for the fatherless and the oppressed
so that mere humans from the earth may terrify them no more.
Psalm 11
REFUGE IN THE LORD
For the choir director. Of David.
Ihave taken refuge in the Lord.
How can you say to me,
“Escape to the mountains like a bird!
2 For look, the wicked string bows;
they put their arrows on bowstrings
to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart.
3 When the foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do? ”
4 The Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord—his throne is in heaven.
His eyes watch;
his gaze examines everyone.
5 The Lord examines the righteous,
but he hates the wicked
and those who love violence.
6 Let him rain burning coals and sulfur on the wicked;
let a scorching wind be the portion in their cup.
7 For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds.
The upright will see his face.
Psalm 12
OPPRESSION BY THE WICKED
For the choir director: according to Sheminith. A psalm of David.
Help, Lord, for no faithful one remains;
the loyal have disappeared from the human race.
2 They lie to one another;
they speak with flattering lips and deceptive hearts.
3 May the Lord cut off all flattering lips
and the tongue that speaks boastfully.
4 They say, “Through our tongues we have power;
our lips are our own — who can be our master? ”
5 “Because of the devastation of the needy
and the groaning of the poor,
I will now rise up,” says the Lord.
“I will provide safety for the one who longs for it.”
6 The words of the Lord are pure words,
like silver refined in an earthen furnace,
purified seven times.
7 You, Lord, will guard us;
you will protect us from this generation forever.
8 The wicked prowl all around,
and what is worthless is exalted by the human race.
Acts 17:16–34
PAUL IN ATHENS
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed when he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with those who worshiped God, as well as in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also debated with him. Some said, “What is this ignorant show-off trying to say? ”
Others replied, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign deities” — because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
19 They took him and brought him to the Areopagus, and said, “May we learn about this new teaching you are presenting? 20 Because what you say sounds strange to us, and we want to know what these things mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners residing there spent their time on nothing else but telling or hearing something new.
THE AREOPAGUS ADDRESS
22 Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said, “People of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect. 23 For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’ Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it — he is Lord of heaven and earth — does not live in shrines made by hands. 25 Neither is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives everyone life and breath and all things. 26 From one man he has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live. 27 He did this so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’ 29 Since, then, we are God’s offspring, we shouldn’t think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image fashioned by human art and imagination.
30 “Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has set a day when he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to ridicule him, but others said, “We’d like to hear from you again about this.” 33 So Paul left their presence. 34 However, some people joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
— Psalms 10–12, Acts 17:16–34 (CSB)