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Psalm 107

1  O give thanks to the Lord, for he is gracious, ♦︎
   for his steadfast love endures for ever.
2  Let the redeemed of the Lord say this, ♦︎
   those he redeemed from the hand of the enemy,
3  And gathered out of the lands
      from the east and from the west, ♦︎
   from the north and from the south.
23  Those who go down to the sea in ships ♦︎
   and ply their trade in great waters,
24  These have seen the works of the Lord ♦︎
   and his wonders in the deep.
25  For at his word the stormy wind arose ♦︎
   and lifted up the waves of the sea.
26  They were carried up to the heavens
      and down again to the deep; ♦︎
   their soul melted away in their peril.
27  They reeled and staggered like a drunkard ♦︎
   and were at their wits’ end.
28  Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, ♦︎
   and he brought them out of their distress.
29  He made the storm be still ♦︎
   and the waves of the sea were calmed.
30  Then were they glad because they were at rest, ♦︎
   and he brought them to the haven they desired.
31  Let them give thanks to the Lord for his goodness ♦︎
   and the wonders he does for his children.
32  Let them exalt him in the congregation of the people ♦︎
   and praise him in the council of the elders.

²¹ ‘They listened to me, and waited,
   and kept silence for my counsel.
²² After I spoke they did not speak again,
   and my word dropped upon them like dew.^*
23 They waited for me as for the rain;
   they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
²⁴ I smiled on them when they had no confidence;
   and the light of my countenance they did not extinguish.^*
25 I chose their way, and sat as chief,
   and I lived like a king among his troops,
   like one who comforts mourners.

30‘But now they make sport of me,
   those who are younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
   to set with the dogs of my flock.
² What could I gain from the strength of their hands?
   All their vigour is gone.
³ Through want and hard hunger
   they gnaw the dry and desolate ground,
⁴ they pick mallow and the leaves of bushes,
   and to warm themselves the roots of broom.
⁵ They are driven out from society;
   people shout after them as after a thief.
⁶ In the gullies of wadis they must live,
   in holes in the ground, and in the rocks.
⁷ Among the bushes they bray;
   under the nettles they huddle together.
⁸ A senseless, disreputable brood,
   they have been whipped out of the land.

⁹ ‘And now they mock me in song;
   I am a byword to them.
¹⁰ They abhor me, they keep aloof from me;
   they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.
¹¹ Because God has loosed my bowstring and humbled me,
   they have cast off restraint in my presence.
¹² On my right hand the rabble rise up;
   they send me sprawling,
   and build roads for my ruin.
¹³ They break up my path,
   they promote my calamity;
   no one restrains^* them.
¹⁴ As through a wide breach they come;
   amid the crash they roll on.
¹⁵ Terrors are turned upon me;
   my honour is pursued as by the wind,
   and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

Paul’s Journey to Jerusalem

21When we had parted from them and set sail, we came by a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.^{* 2}When we found a ship bound for Phoenicia, we went on board and set sail. ³We came in sight of Cyprus; and leaving it on our left, we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, because the ship was to unload its cargo there. ⁴We looked up the disciples and stayed there for seven days. Through the Spirit they told Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. ⁵When our days there were ended, we left and proceeded on our journey; and all of them, with wives and children, escorted us outside the city. There we knelt down on the beach and prayed ⁶and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home.

7 When we had finished^* the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais; and we greeted the believers^* and stayed with them for one day. ⁸The next day we left and came to Caesarea; and we went into the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the seven, and stayed with him. ⁹He had four unmarried daughters^* who had the gift of prophecy. ¹⁰While we were staying there for several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. ¹¹He came to us and took Paul’s belt, bound his own feet and hands with it, and said, ‘Thus says the Holy Spirit, “This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.” ’ ¹²When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. ¹³Then Paul answered, ‘What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.’ ¹⁴Since he would not be persuaded, we remained silent except to say, ‘The Lord’s will be done.’

15 After these days we got ready and started to go up to Jerusalem. ¹⁶Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came along and brought us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to stay.