Why Do You Hide Yourself?
1 Why, O Lord, do you stand kfar away?
2 In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;
let them nbe caught in the schemes that they have devised.
3 For the wicked oboasts of the desires of his soul,
and the one greedy for gain pcurses1 and qrenounces the Lord.
4 In the pride of his face2 the wicked does not qseek him;3
all his thoughts are, r“There is no God.”
5 His ways prosper at all times;
your judgments are on high, sout of his sight;
as for all his foes, he tpuffs at them.
6 He usays in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
throughout all generations I vshall not meet adversity.”
7 wHis mouth is filled with cursing and xdeceit and yoppression;
zunder his tongue are amischief and biniquity.
8 He sits in ambush in the villages;
in chiding places he murders the innocent.
His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
9 he lurks in ambush like da lion in his ethicket;
he flurks that he may seize the poor;
he seizes the poor when he draws him into his gnet.
10 The helpless are crushed, sink down,
and fall by his might.
11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten,
12 jArise, O Lord; O God, klift up your hand;
lforget not the afflicted.
13 Why does the wicked mrenounce God
and say in his heart, “You will not ncall to account”?
14 But you do see, for you onote mischief and vexation,
that you may take it into your hands;
to you the helpless pcommits himself;
you have been qthe helper of the fatherless.
15 rBreak the arm of the wicked and evildoer;
scall his wickedness to account till you find none.
16 tThe Lord is king forever and ever;
the unations perish from his land.
17 O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you will vstrengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
18 to wdo justice to the fatherless and xthe oppressed,
so that yman who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
The Lord Is in His Holy Temple
To the choirmaster. Of David.
1 In the Lord I take refuge;
how can you say to my soul,
z“Flee like a bird to your mountain,
2 for behold, the wicked abend the bow;
bthey have fitted their arrow to the string
to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart;
3 if cthe foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?”4
4 dThe Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord’s ethrone is in heaven;
his eyes see, his eyelids ftest the children of man.
5 The Lord gtests the righteous,
but hhis soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
6 Let him rain coals on the wicked;
ifire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be jthe portion of their cup.
7 For the Lord is righteous;
he kloves righteous deeds;
lthe upright shall behold his face.
The Faithful Have Vanished
To the choirmaster: according to The Sheminith.5 A Psalm of David.
1 Save, O Lord, for mthe godly one is gone;
for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
2 Everyone nutters lies to his neighbor;
3 May the Lord cut off all oflattering lips,
the tongue that makes qgreat boasts,
4 those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail,
our lips are with us; who is master over us?”
5 “Because rthe poor are plundered, because the needy groan,
sI will now arise,” says the Lord;
“I will place him in the tsafety for which he longs.”
6 uThe words of the Lord are pure words,
like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.
7 You, O Lord, will keep them;
you will guard us6 from this generation forever.
8 On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among the children of man.
24 And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and wfell down at his feet and xworshiped him. 26 But Peter lifted him up, saying, y“Stand up; I too am a man.” 27 And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered. 28 And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew zto associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but aGod has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.”
30 And Cornelius said, b“Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at cthe ninth hour,1 and behold, da man stood before me in bright clothing 31 and said, ‘Cornelius, eyour prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. 32 Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.’ 33 So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”
Gentiles Hear the Good News
34 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that fGod gshows no partiality, 35 but fin every nation anyone who fears him and hdoes what is right is acceptable to him. 36 As for ithe word that he sent to Israel, jpreaching good news of kpeace through Jesus Christ (lhe is Lord of all), 37 you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, mbeginning nfrom Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how oGod anointed Jesus of Nazareth pwith the Holy Spirit and with qpower. He went about doing good and healing all rwho were oppressed by the devil, sfor God was with him. 39 And twe are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. uThey put him to death by hanging him on a tree, 40 but vGod raised him on wthe third day and made him to xappear, 41 ynot to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as zwitnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And ahe commanded us to preach to the people and to testify bthat he is the one appointed by God to be judge cof the living and the dead. 43 dTo him eall the prophets bear witness that feveryone who believes in him receives gforgiveness of sins hthrough his name.”
The Holy Spirit Falls on the Gentiles
44 While Peter was still saying these things, ithe Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. 45 And the believers from among jthe circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because kthe gift of the Holy Spirit lwas poured out even on the Gentiles. 46 For they were hearing them mspeaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, 47 n“Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit ojust as we have?” 48 And he pcommanded them qto be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.
