Zephaniah 2 - 3, Acts 20 - 21, Psalm 91

Seek Yahweh Before His Day of Anger

2Gather yourselves together, indeed, ^agather,O nation ^bwithout ¹shame,²Before the decree ¹takes effect—The day passes ^alike the chaff—Before the ^bburning anger of Yahweh comes upon you,Before the ^cday of Yahweh’s anger comes upon you.³^aSeek Yahweh,All you ^bhumble of the ¹earthWho have worked His justice;^cSeek righteousness, seek humility.Perhaps you will be ^dhiddenIn the day of Yahweh’s anger.⁴For ^aGaza will be ¹forsakenAnd Ashkelon a desolation;^bAshdod will be driven out at noon,And ^cEkron will be uprooted.⁵Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast,The nation of the ¹^,^aCherethites!The word of Yahweh is ^bagainst you,O ^cCanaan, land of the Philistines;And I will ^dmake you perishSo that there will be ^eno inhabitant.⁶So the seacoast will be ^apastures,With ¹caves for shepherds and folds for flocks.⁷And the coast will beFor the ^aremnant of the house of Judah;They will ^bfeed upon it.In the houses of Ashkelon they will lie down at evening;For Yahweh their God will ^ccare for themAnd ^drestore their fortune.⁸“I have heard the ^areproach of MoabAnd the ^brevilings of the sons of Ammon,With which they have reproached My peopleAnd ^cmagnified themselves against their territory.⁹“Therefore, as I live,” declares Yahweh of hosts,The God of Israel,“Surely ^aMoab will be like ^bSodomAnd the sons of ^cAmmon like ^dGomorrah—A place possessed by nettles and salt pits,And a perpetual desolation.The remnant of My people will ^eplunder them,And the remainder of My nation will inherit them.”

¹⁰This they will have in return for their ^apride because they have ^breproached and magnified themselves against the people of Yahweh of hosts. ¹¹Yahweh will be ^afearsome to them, for He will ¹starve ^ball the gods of the earth; and all the ^ccoastlands of the nations will ^dbow down to Him, everyone from his own place.

¹²“You also, O ^aEthiopians, will be slain by My sword.”¹³And He will ^astretch out His hand against the northAnd cause ^bAssyria to perish,And He will make ^cNineveh a desolation,Parched like the wilderness.¹⁴Flocks will lie down in her midst,All the beasts of the nation;Both the ¹^,^apelican and the hedgehogWill lodge in ²the tops of her pillars;Their voice will sing in the window,Ruin will be on the threshold;For He has laid bare the cedar work.¹⁵This is the ^aexultant cityWhich ^binhabits securely,Who says in her heart,“^cI am, and there is no one besides me.”How she has become an object of ^dhorror,A resting place for beasts!^eEveryone who passes by her will hissAnd wave his hand in contempt.

The Unjust Knows No Shame

3Woe to her who is ^arebellious and ^bdefiled,The oppressive ^ccity!²She ^adid not listen to any voice;She ^bdid not receive discipline.She did not ^ctrust in Yahweh;She did not ^ddraw near to her God.³Her ^aprinces in her midst are roaring lions;Her judges are ^bwolves at evening;They leave nothing to gnaw for the morning.⁴Her prophets are ^areckless, treacherous men;Her ^bpriests have profaned the sanctuary.They have done violence to the law.⁵Yahweh is ^arighteous ^bin her midst;He will ^cdo no injustice.^dEvery morning He brings His justice to light;¹He does not fail.But the unjust ^eknows no shame.⁶“I have cut off nations;Their corner towers are desolate.I have made their streets ^aa waste,With no one passing by;Their ^bcities are laid waste,Without a man, ^cwithout an inhabitant.⁷“I said, ‘Surely you will fear Me,^aReceive discipline.’So her abode will ^bnot be cut offAccording to all that I have appointed concerning her.But they were eager to ^ccorrupt all their deeds.

Yahweh Will Pour Out His Anger

⁸“Therefore ^await for Me,” declares Yahweh,“For the day when I rise up as a witness.Indeed, My judgment is to ^bassemble nations,To gather kingdoms,To pour out on them My indignation,All My burning anger;For ^call the earth will be devouredBy the fire of My zeal.⁹“For then I will change them to peoples with ^apurified lips,That all of them may ^bcall on the name of Yahweh,To serve Him ¹shoulder to shoulder.¹⁰“From beyond the rivers of ¹^,^aEthiopiaMy ²worshipers, ³My scattered ones,Will ^bbring My offerings.¹¹“In that day you will ^afeel no shameBecause of all your deedsBy which you have transgressed against Me;For then I will remove from your midstYour ^bproud, exulting ones,And you will never again be haughtyOn My ^choly mountain.¹²“But I will cause to remain in your midstA ¹^,^alowly and poor people,And they will ^btake refuge in the name of Yahweh.¹³“The ^aremnant of Israel will ^bdo no injusticeAnd ^cnot speak falsehood,Nor will a deceitful tongueBe found in their mouths;For they will ^dfeed and lie downWith no one to make them tremble.”

Yahweh’s Joy in Restoring Israel

¹⁴Sing for joy, O daughter of Zion!^aMake a loud shout, O Israel!Be glad and exult with all your heart,O daughter of Jerusalem!¹⁵Yahweh has taken away ^aHis judgments against you;He has cleared away your enemies.The King of Israel, Yahweh, is ^bin your midst;You will ^cfear evil no more.¹⁶^aIn that day it will be said to Jerusalem:“^bDo not fear, O Zion;^cDo not let your hands fall limp.¹⁷“Yahweh your God is ^ain your midst,A ^bmighty one who will save.He will ^cbe joyful over you with gladness;He will ¹be quiet in His love;He will rejoice over you with joyful singing.¹⁸“I will assemble those who ^agrieve about the appointed feasts—They were from you, O Zion;The reproach of exile is a burden on ¹them.¹⁹“Behold, I am going to deal at that timeWith all those who ^aafflict you,And I will save the ^blameAnd gather the banished,And I will turn them—in their ^cshame—into ^dpraise and a nameIn all the earth.²⁰“At that time I will ^abring you in,Even at the time when I gather you together;Indeed, I will give you to be a ^bname and praiseAmong all the peoples of the earth,When I ^crestore your fortunes before your eyes,”Says Yahweh.

Through Macedonia and Greece

20Now after the uproar had ceased, Paul having summoned and exhorted ^athe disciples, said farewell and left ^bto go to ^cMacedonia. ²And when he had gone through those districts and had given them much exhortation, he came to Greece. ³And there he spent three months, and when ^aa plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for ^bSyria, he decided to return through ^cMacedonia. ⁴And he was accompanied by Sopater of ^aBerea, the son of Pyrrhus, and by ^bAristarchus and Secundus of the ^cThessalonians, and ^dGaius of ^eDerbe, and ^fTimothy, and ^gTychicus and Trophimus of ¹Asia. ⁵But these had gone on ahead and were waiting for ^aus at ^bTroas. ⁶^aAnd we sailed from ^bPhilippi after ^cthe days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at ^dTroas within five days; and there we stayed seven days.

Eutychus Raised from the Dead in Troas

⁷And on ^athe first day of the week, when ^bwe were gathered together to ^cbreak bread, Paul began speaking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his ¹message until midnight. ⁸Now there were many ^alamps in the ^bupper room where we were gathered together. ⁹And there was a young man named ¹Eutychus sitting on the windowsill, sinking into a deep sleep. And as Paul kept on talking, he sunk into that sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead. ¹⁰But Paul went down and ^afell upon him, and after embracing him, he ^bsaid, “¹Do not be troubled, for his life is in him.” ¹¹And when he had gone back up and had ^abroken the bread and ¹eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left. ¹²And they took away the boy alive, and were not a little comforted.

Paul’s Farewell to the Ephesian Elders

¹³But ^awe, going ahead to the ship, set sail for Assos, intending from there to take Paul on board; for so he had arranged it, intending himself to go ¹by land. ¹⁴And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene. ¹⁵And sailing from there, we arrived the following day opposite Chios; and the next day we crossed over to Samos; and the day following we came to ^aMiletus. ¹⁶For Paul had decided to sail past ^aEphesus so that he would not have to spend time in ¹^,^bAsia; for he was hurrying ^cto be in Jerusalem, if possible, ^don the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷Now from Miletus he sent to ^aEphesus and called to him ^bthe elders of the church. ¹⁸And when they had come to him, he said to them, “You yourselves know, ^afrom the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, ¹⁹serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me ¹through ^athe plots of the Jews; ²⁰how I ^adid not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and ¹from house to house, ²¹solemnly ^atestifying to both Jews and Greeks about ^brepentance toward God and ^cfaith in our Lord Jesus Christ. ²²“And now, behold, bound by the ¹Spirit, ^aI am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, ²³except that ^athe Holy Spirit solemnly ^btestifies to me in every city, saying that ^cchains and afflictions await me. ²⁴“But ^aI do not make my life of any account nor dear to myself, so that I may ^bfinish my course and ^cthe ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to ^dtestify solemnly of the gospel of ^ethe grace of God.

²⁵“And now, behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about ^apreaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face. ²⁶“Therefore, I ¹testify to you this day that ^aI am ²innocent of the blood of all. ²⁷“For I ^adid not shrink from declaring to you the whole ^bpurpose of God. ²⁸“Be on guard for yourselves and for all ^athe flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you ¹overseers, to shepherd ^bthe church of God which ^cHe ²purchased ³with His own blood. ²⁹“I know that after my departure ^asavage wolves will come in among you, not sparing ^bthe flock; ³⁰and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away ^athe disciples after them. ³¹“Therefore be watchful, remembering that night and day for a period of ^athree years I did not cease to admonish each one ^bwith tears. ³²“And now I ^acommend you to God and to ^bthe word of His grace, which is able to ^cbuild you up and to give you ^dthe inheritance among all those who have been sanctified. ³³“^aI have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes. ³⁴“You yourselves know that ^athese hands ministered to my own needs and to those ^bwho were with me. ³⁵“In everything I showed you that by laboring in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

³⁶And when he had said these things, he ^aknelt down and prayed with them all. ³⁷And ¹they began to weep aloud and ^afalling on Paul’s neck, they were kissing him, ³⁸being in agony especially over ^athe word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were ^baccompanying him to the ship.

Paul Sets Out for Jerusalem

21Now when ^awe had parted from them and had set sail, we came by ^ba straight course to Cos and the next day to Rhodes and from there to Patara; ²and having found a ship crossing over to ^aPhoenicia, we went aboard and set sail. ³And when we came in sight of ^aCyprus, leaving it on the left, we kept sailing to ^bSyria and landed at ^cTyre; for there the ship was to unload its cargo. ⁴And after looking up ^athe disciples, we stayed there seven days; and they kept telling Paul ^bthrough the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem. ⁵And when ¹our days there were ended, we left and started on our journey, while they all, with wives and children, ^aescorted us until we were out of the city. After ^bkneeling down on the beach and praying, we said farewell to one another. ⁶Then we went on board the ship, and they returned ^ahome again.

⁷And when we had finished the voyage from ^aTyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and after greeting ^bthe brothers, we stayed with them for a day. ⁸And on the next day we left and came to ^aCaesarea, and entering the house of ^bPhilip the ^cevangelist, who was ^done of the seven, we stayed with him. ⁹Now this man had four virgin daughters who ^aprophesied. ¹⁰And as we were staying there for some days, a prophet named ^aAgabus came down from Judea. ¹¹And coming to us, he ^atook Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, “This ^bis what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will ^cbind the man who owns this belt and ^ddeliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” ¹²And when we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging him ^anot to go up to Jerusalem. ¹³Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, crying and breaking my heart? For ^aI am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for ^bthe name of the Lord Jesus.” ¹⁴And since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent, saying, “^aThe will of the Lord be done!”

¹⁵Now after these days we got ready and ^astarted on our way up to Jerusalem. ¹⁶And some of ^athe disciples from ^bCaesarea also came with us, taking us to Mnason of ^cCyprus, an ^dearly disciple with whom we were to lodge.

In Jerusalem

¹⁷And after we arrived in Jerusalem, ^athe brothers welcomed us gladly. ¹⁸And the following day Paul went in with us to ^aJames, and all ^bthe elders were present. ¹⁹And after he had greeted them, he ^abegan to relate one by one the things which God did among the Gentiles through his ^bministry. ²⁰And when they heard it they began ^aglorifying God; and they said to him, “You see, brother, how many ¹thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all ^bzealous for the Law; ²¹and they have been told about you, that you are ^ateaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them ^bnot to circumcise their children nor to ¹walk according to ^cthe customs. ²²“What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. ²³“Therefore do this that we tell you. We have four men who ¹^,^aare under a vow; ²⁴take them and ^apurify yourself along with them, and ¹pay their expenses so that they may ^bshave their ²heads. Then all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Law. ²⁵“But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, ^ahaving decided that they should keep from ¹meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from sexual immorality.” ²⁶Then Paul ¹took the men, and the next day, ^apurifying himself along with them, ^bwent into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them.

Paul Is Arrested

²⁷Now when ^athe seven days were almost over, ^bthe Jews from ¹^,^cAsia, upon noticing him in the temple, began to throw all the crowd into confusion and laid hands on him, ²⁸crying out, “Men of Israel, help! ^aThis is the man who teaches to everyone everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides, he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has ^bdefiled this holy place.” ²⁹For they had previously seen ^aTrophimus the ^bEphesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. ³⁰Then all the city was stirred, and ¹the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they ^adragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut. ³¹While they were seeking to kill him, a report came up to the ¹commander of the ^aRoman ²cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. ³²At once he ^atook along soldiers and centurions and ran down to them; and when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. ³³Then the commander came up and took hold of him, and ordered him to be ^abound with ^btwo chains; and he began asking who he was and what he had done. ³⁴But among the crowd ^asome were shouting one thing and some another, and when he could not find out the ¹facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into ^bthe barracks. ³⁵And when he got to ^athe stairs, he actually was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd; ³⁶for the multitude of the people kept following them, shouting, “^aAway with him!”

Paul’s Defense Before the Jews

³⁷As Paul was about to be brought into ^athe barracks, he said to the commander, “May I say something to you?” And he *said, “Do you know Greek? ³⁸“Then you are not ^athe Egyptian who some ¹time ago raised a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out ^binto the wilderness?” ³⁹But Paul said, “^aI am a Jew of Tarsus in ^bCilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city; and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.” ⁴⁰And when he had given him permission, Paul, standing on ^athe stairs, ^bmotioned to the people with his hand; and when there ¹was a great hush, he spoke to them in the ^cHebrew language, saying,

In the Shadow of the Almighty

91He who abides in the ^ashelter of the Most HighWill abide in the ^bshadow of the Almighty.²I will say to Yahweh, “My ^arefuge and my ^bfortress,My God, in whom I ^ctrust!”³For it is He who delivers you from the ^asnare of the trapperAnd from the destructive ^bpestilence.⁴He will ^acover you with His pinions,And ^bunder His wings you will take refuge;His ^ctruth is a ^dlarge shield and bulwark.⁵You ^awill not be afraid of ^bterror by night,Or ^carrow that flies by day;⁶Of ^apestilence that moves in darkness,Or of ^bdestruction that devastates at noon.⁷A thousand may fall at your sideAnd ten thousand at your right hand,But ^ait shall not approach you.⁸You will only look on with your eyesAnd ^asee the recompense of the wicked.⁹¹For you have made Yahweh—^amy refuge,The Most High—^byour dwelling place.¹⁰^aNo evil will befall you,And no plague will come near your ¹tent.¹¹For He will command ^aHis angels concerning you,To guard you in all your ways.¹²On their hands they will ^abear you up,Lest you strike your foot against a stone.¹³You will ^atread upon the fierce lion and cobra,The young lion and the ¹serpent you will trample down.¹⁴“^aBecause he has loved Me, therefore I will protect him;I will ^bset him securely on high, because he has ^cknown My name.¹⁵“He will ^acall upon Me, and I will answer him;I will be with him in his ¹distress;I will rescue him and ^bhonor him.¹⁶“With ¹a ^along life I will satisfy himAnd ^bI will show him My salvation.”