Habakkuk 3, Acts 26 - 27, Psalm 95 — Legacy Standard Bible

Yet I Will Exult in Yahweh

3A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to ¹Shigionoth.

²O Yahweh, I have ^aheard ¹the report about You, and ²I ^bfear.O Yahweh, ^crevive ^dYour work in the midst of the years;In the midst of the years make it known;In rage remember ^ecompassion.³God comes from ^aTeman,And the Holy One from Mount ^bParan. Selah.His ^csplendor covers the heavens,And the ^dearth is full of His praise.⁴His ^abrightness is like the sunlight;He has rays flashing from His hand,And there is the hiding of His ^bstrength.⁵Before Him goes ^apestilence,And ^bplague comes ¹after Him.⁶He stood and ¹measured out the earth;He looked and ^astartled the nations.So the perpetual mountains were shattered;The ancient hills ²collapsed.His ways are ^beverlasting.⁷I saw the tents of Cushan under ^awickedness;The tent curtains of the land of ^bMidian were trembling.⁸Did Yahweh’s fury burn against the ^arivers,Or was Your anger against the rivers,Or was Your wrath against the ^bsea,That You ^crode on Your horses,On Your ^dchariots of salvation?⁹Your ^abow was made bare;Rods were sworn unto battle by word. Selah.You ^bsplit the earth with rivers.¹⁰The mountains saw You and writhed;The downpour of waters passed by.The deep ^agave forth its voice;It lifted high its hands.¹¹^aSun and moon stood in their lofty places;They went away at the ^blight of Your arrows,At the brightness of Your flashing spear.¹²In indignation You ^amarched through the earth;In anger You ¹^,^btrampled the nations.¹³You went forth for the ^asalvation of Your people,For salvation with Your ^banointed.You crushed the ^chead of the house of the wickedTo lay him bare from ¹thigh to neck. Selah.¹⁴You pierced with his ^aown sharpened rodsThe head of his ¹throngs.They ^bstormed in to scatter ²us;Their exultation was like thoseWho ^cdevour the afflicted in secret.¹⁵You ^atread on the sea with Your horses,On the ^bsurge of many waters.¹⁶I heard, and my ¹inward parts ^atrembled;At the sound my lips tingled.Decay enters my ^bbones,And in my place I tremble.Because I must ^cwait quietly for the day of distress,²For the ^dpeople to arise who will invade us.¹⁷Though the ^afig tree should not blossomAnd there be no produce on the vines,Though the yield of the ^bolive should failAnd the fields yield no food,Though the ^cflock should be cut off from the foldAnd there be ^dno cattle in the stalls,¹⁸Yet I will ^aexult in Yahweh;I will ^brejoice in the ^cGod of my salvation.¹⁹Yahweh, the Lord, is my ¹^,^astrength,And ^bHe has set my feet like hinds’ feetAnd makes me tread on my ^chigh places. ²For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.

26^aNow Agrippa said to Paul, “You are ¹permitted to speak for yourself.” Then Paul, stretching out his hand, began to make his defense:

²“Concerning all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, I regard myself blessed, King Agrippa, that I am about to make my defense before you today; ³¹especially because you are an expert in all ^acustoms and ²questions among the Jews; therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴“So then, all Jews know ^amy manner of life from my youth, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and at Jerusalem; ⁵since they have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I lived as a ^aPharisee ^baccording to the strictest ^csect of our religion. ⁶“And now I am standing here being tried ^afor the hope of ^bthe promise made by God to our fathers; ⁷the promise ^ato which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God night and day. And for this ^bhope, O King, I am being ^caccused by Jews. ⁸“Why is it considered unbelievable among all of you ^aif God does raise the dead?

⁹“So then, ^aI thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to ^bthe name of Jesus the Nazarene. ¹⁰“And this is ¹just what I ^adid in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the ²saints in prisons, having ^breceived authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I ^ccast my vote against them. ¹¹“And ^aas I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being ^bfuriously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them ^ceven to ¹foreign cities.

Paul Tells of His Conversion

¹²“¹While so engaged ^aas I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, ¹³at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, ¹brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me. ¹⁴“And when we had ^aall fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the ¹^,^bHebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? ²It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ ¹⁵“And I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. ¹⁶‘But rise up and ^astand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to ^bappoint you a ^cservant and ^da witness not only to the things which you have ¹seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; ¹⁷^arescuing you ^bfrom the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, ¹⁸to ^aopen their eyes so that they may turn from ^bdarkness to light and from the authority of ^cSatan to God, that they may receive ^dforgiveness of sins and an ^einheritance among those who have been sanctified by ^ffaith in Me.’

¹⁹“So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, ²⁰but kept declaring both ^ato those of Damascus first, and also ^bat Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even ^cto the Gentiles, that they should ^drepent and turn to God, practicing deeds ^eappropriate to repentance. ²¹“For this reason some Jews ^aseized me in the temple and were trying ^bto put me to death. ²²“Therefore, having obtained help from God to this day, I stand here ^abearing witness both to small and great, stating nothing but what ^bthe Prophets and Moses said was going to take place; ²³¹^,^athat the ²Christ was ³to suffer, and ⁴that ^bas first of the resurrection from the dead, He was going to proclaim ^clight both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴Now while ¹Paul was saying this in his defense, Festus *said in a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind! ²Great ^alearning is driving you out of your mind.” ²⁵But Paul *said, “I am not out of my mind, ^amost excellent Festus, but I utter words ¹of sober truth. ²⁶“For the king ¹^,^aknows about these matters, and I speak to him also with confidence, since I am persuaded that none of these things escape his notice; for this has not been done in a ²corner. ²⁷“King Agrippa, do you believe the Prophets? I know you believe.” ²⁸But Agrippa replied to Paul, “¹In such short time ²are you persuading me to become a ^aChristian?” ²⁹And Paul said, “I would pray to God, that whether ¹in a short or long time, not only you, but also all who hear me this day, might become such as I am, except for these ^achains.”

³⁰^aAnd the king stood up and the governor and Bernice, and those who were sitting with them, ³¹and when they had gone aside, they began talking to one another, saying, “^aThis man is not doing anything worthy of death or ¹imprisonment.” ³²And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been ^aset free if he had not ^bappealed to Caesar.”

Paul Is Sent to Rome

27Now when it was decided that ^awe ^bwould sail for ^cItaly, they proceeded to deliver Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan ¹^,^dcohort named Julius. ²And getting aboard an Adramyttian ship, which was about to sail to the regions along the coast of ¹^,^aAsia, we set sail accompanied by ^bAristarchus, a ^cMacedonian of ^dThessalonica. ³The next day we put in at ^aSidon, and Julius ^btreated Paul with consideration and ^callowed him to go to his friends and receive care. ⁴And from there we set sail and sailed under the shelter of ^aCyprus because ^bthe winds were against us. ⁵And when we had sailed through the sea along the coast of ^aCilicia and ^bPamphylia, we landed at Myra in Lycia. ⁶There the centurion found an ^aAlexandrian ship sailing for ^bItaly, and he put us aboard it. ⁷And when we had sailed slowly for a good many days, and with difficulty had arrived off Cnidus, ^asince the wind did not permit us to go farther, we sailed under the shelter of ^bCrete, off Salmone; ⁸and with difficulty, we ^asailed past it and came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea.

⁹And when considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, since even ^athe ¹Fast was already over, Paul began to advise them, ¹⁰and said to them, “Men, I perceive that the voyage will certainly be with ^adamage and great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” ¹¹But the centurion was being more persuaded by the ^apilot and the ¹captain of the ship than by what was being said by Paul. ¹²And because the harbor was not suitable for wintering, the majority reached a decision to set sail from there, if somehow they could arrive at Phoenix, a harbor of ^aCrete facing southwest and northwest, to spend the winter there.

¹³And when a moderate ¹south wind came up, thinking that they had attained their purpose, they weighed anchor and began ^asailing along ²the shore of ^bCrete.

The Storm at Sea

¹⁴But before very long there ^arushed down from ¹the land a violent wind, called ²Euraquilo; ¹⁵and when the ship was caught in it and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and let ourselves be carried along. ¹⁶And running under the shelter of a small island called Clauda, we were scarcely able to get the ship’s ¹boat under control. ¹⁷After they had hoisted it up, they used ¹supporting cables in undergirding the ship. Fearing that they might ^arun aground on the shallows of Syrtis, they let down the ²sea anchor and in this way let themselves be carried along. ¹⁸And the next day as we were being violently storm-tossed, ¹they began to ^ajettison the cargo; ¹⁹and on the third day they cast the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. ²⁰And since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm was assailing us, from then on all hope of our being saved was gradually abandoned.

²¹And ¹when they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up in their midst and said, “^aMen, you ought to have ²followed my advice to not set sail from ^bCrete and to ³avoid this ^cdamage and loss. ²²“And now I advise you to ^abe cheerful, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. ²³“For this very night ^aan angel of the God to whom I belong and ^bwhom I serve ^cstood before me, ²⁴saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; ^ayou must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you ^ball those who are sailing with you.’ ²⁵“Therefore, ^abe cheerful, men, for I believe God that ¹it will turn out exactly as I have been told. ²⁶“But we must ^arun aground on some ^bisland.”

²⁷But when the fourteenth night came, as we were being carried about in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors began to suspect that some land was approaching them. ²⁸And when they took soundings, they found it to be ¹twenty fathoms; and a little farther on they took another sounding and found it to be ²fifteen fathoms. ²⁹And fearing that we might ^arun aground somewhere on the ¹rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and were praying for daybreak. ³⁰But as the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and had let down ^athe ship’s boat into the sea, on the pretense of intending to lay out anchors from the bow, ³¹Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, “Unless these men remain in the ship, you yourselves cannot ¹be saved.” ³²Then the soldiers cut away the ^aropes of the ship’s boat and let it fall away.

³³Until the day was about to dawn, Paul was encouraging them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been constantly watching and going without eating, having taken nothing. ³⁴“Therefore I encourage you to take some food, for this is for your ¹salvation, for ^anot a hair from the head of any of you will perish.” ³⁵And having said these things, he took bread and ^agave thanks to God in the presence of all. And he broke it and began to eat. ³⁶And all ^aof them became cheerful and they themselves also took food. ³⁷And all of us in the ship were 276 ¹^,^apersons. ³⁸And when they had eaten enough, they began to lighten the ship by ^athrowing out the wheat into the sea.

The Shipwreck

³⁹Now when day came, ^athey ¹could not recognize the land; but they were noticing a bay with a beach, and they were resolving to drive the ship onto it if they could. ⁴⁰And casting off ^athe anchors, they left them in the sea while at the same time they were loosening the ropes of the rudders. And hoisting the foresail to the wind, they were heading for the beach. ⁴¹But striking a ¹reef where two seas met, they ran the vessel aground; and the bow stuck fast and remained immovable, but the stern began to be broken up by the force of the waves. ⁴²Now the soldiers’ plan was to ^akill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim away and escape; ⁴³but the centurion, ^awanting to bring Paul safely through, kept them from their intention, and ordered that those who could swim should ¹jump overboard first and get to land, ⁴⁴and the rest should follow, some on planks, and others on various things from the ship. And so it happened that ^athey all were brought safely to land.

Let Us Kneel Before Yahweh Our Maker

95Oh come, let us ^asing for joy to Yahweh,Let us make a loud shout to ^bthe rock of our salvation.²Let us ^acome before His presence ^bwith ¹thanksgiving,Let us make a loud shout to Him ^cwith songs of praise.³For Yahweh is a ^agreat GodAnd a great King ^babove all gods,⁴In whose hand are the ^adepths of the earth,The peaks of the mountains are His also.⁵¹The sea is His, for it was He ^awho made it,And His hands formed the dry land.⁶Come, let us ^aworship and bow down,Let us ^bkneel before Yahweh our ^cMaker.⁷For He is our God,And ^awe are the people of His ^bpasture and the sheep of His hand.^cToday, ¹if you hear His voice,⁸Do not harden your hearts, as at ¹^,^aMeribah,As in the day of ²^,^bMassah in the wilderness,⁹“When your fathers ^atried Me,They tested Me, though they had seen My work.¹⁰“For ^aforty years I loathed that generation,And said they are a people who wander in their heart,And they do not know My ways.¹¹“Therefore I ^aswore in My anger,They shall never enter into My ^brest.”