Psalm 7

PRAYER FOR JUSTICE
A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.

Lord my God, I seek refuge in you;
save me from all my pursuers and rescue me,
2 or they will tear me like a lion,
ripping me apart with no one to rescue me.
3 Lord my God, if I have done this,
if there is injustice on my hands,
4 if I have done harm to one at peace with me
or have plundered my adversary without cause,
5 may an enemy pursue and overtake me;
may he trample me to the ground
and leave my honor in the dust. Selah
6 Rise up, Lord, in your anger;
lift yourself up against the fury of my adversaries;
awake for me;
you have ordained a judgment.
7 Let the assembly of peoples gather around you;
take your seat on high over it.
8 The Lord judges the peoples;
vindicate me, Lord,
according to my righteousness and my integrity.
9 Let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
but establish the righteous.
The one who examines the thoughts and emotions
is a righteous God.
10 My shield is with God,
who saves the upright in heart.
11 God is a righteous judge
and a God who shows his wrath every day.
12 If anyone does not repent,
he will sharpen his sword;
he has strung his bow and made it ready.
13 He has prepared his deadly weapons;
he tips his arrows with fire.
14 See, the wicked one is pregnant with evil,
conceives trouble, and gives birth to deceit.
15 He dug a pit and hollowed it out
but fell into the hole he had made.
16 His trouble comes back on his own head;
his own violence comes down on top of his head.
17 I will thank the Lord for his righteousness;
I will sing about the name of the Lord Most High.

Psalm 8

GOD’S GLORY, HUMAN DIGNITY
For the choir director: on the Gittith. A psalm of David.

Lord, our Lord,
how magnificent is your name throughout the earth!
You have covered the heavens with your majesty.
2 From the mouths of infants and nursing babies,
you have established a stronghold
on account of your adversaries
in order to silence the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I observe your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you set in place,
4 what is a human being that you remember him,
a son of man that you look after him?
5 You made him little less than God
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:
7 all the sheep and oxen,
as well as the animals in the wild,
8 the birds of the sky,
and the fish of the sea
that pass through the currents of the seas.
9 Lord, our Lord,
how magnificent is your name throughout the earth!

Psalm 9

CELEBRATION OF GOD’S JUSTICE
For the choir director: according to Muth-labben. A psalm of David.

Iwill thank the Lord with all my heart;
I will declare all your wondrous works.
2 I will rejoice and boast about you;
I will sing about your name, Most High.
3 When my enemies retreat,
they stumble and perish before you.
4 For you have upheld my just cause;
you are seated on your throne as a righteous judge.
5 You have rebuked the nations:
You have destroyed the wicked;
you have erased their name forever and ever.
6 The enemy has come to eternal ruin;
you have uprooted the cities,
and the very memory of them has perished.
7 But the Lord sits enthroned forever;
he has established his throne for judgment.
8 And he judges the world with righteousness;
he executes judgment on the nations with fairness.
9 The Lord is a refuge for the persecuted,
a refuge in times of trouble.
10 Those who know your name trust in you
because you have not abandoned
those who seek you, Lord.
11 Sing to the Lord, who dwells in Zion;
proclaim his deeds among the nations.
12 For the one who seeks an accounting
for bloodshed remembers them;
he does not forget the cry of the oppressed.
13 Be gracious to me, Lord;
consider my affliction at the hands of those who hate me.
Lift me up from the gates of death,
14 so that I may declare all your praises.
I will rejoice in your salvation
within the gates of Daughter Zion.
15 The nations have fallen into the pit they made;
their foot is caught in the net they have concealed.
16 The Lord has made himself known;
he has executed justice,
snaring the wicked
by the work of their hands. ‘Higgaion’. ‘Selah’
17 The wicked will return to Sheol —
all the nations that forget God.
18 For the needy will not always be forgotten;
the hope of the oppressed will not perish forever.
19 Rise up, Lord! Do not let mere humans prevail;
let the nations be judged in your presence.
20 Put terror in them, Lord;
let the nations know they are only humans. Selah

Acts 17:1–15

A SHORT MINISTRY IN THESSALONICA
After they passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.
2 As usual, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and rise from the dead: “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah.” 4 Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, including a large number of God-fearing Greeks, as well as a number of the leading women.

RIOT IN THE CITY
5 But the Jews became jealous, and they brought together some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city. Attacking Jason’s house, they searched for them to bring them out to the public assembly. 6 When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too, 7 and Jason has welcomed them. They are all acting contrary to Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king ​— ​Jesus.” 8 The crowd and city officials who heard these things were upset. 9 After taking a security bond from Jason and the others, they released them.

THE BEREANS SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES
10 As soon as it was night, the brothers and sisters sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. Upon arrival, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 The people here were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, since they received the word with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. 12 Consequently, many of them believed, including a number of the prominent Greek women as well as men. 13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul at Berea, they came there too, agitating and upsetting the crowds. 14 Then the brothers and sisters immediately sent Paul away to go to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed on there. 15 Those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving instructions for Silas and Timothy to come to him as quickly as possible, they departed.

— Psalms 7–9, Acts 17:1–15 (CSB)