David’s Psalm of Deliverance

1And David spoke the words of this song to the Lord in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. 2He said,

“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;

3My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,

My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge;

My savior, You save me from violence.

4I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,

And I am saved from my enemies.

5For the waves of death encompassed me;

The torrents of destruction overwhelmed me;

6The cords of Sheol surrounded me;

The snares of death confronted me.

7In my distress I called upon the Lord,

Yes, I cried to my God;

And from His temple He heard my voice,

And my cry for help came into His ears.

8Then the earth shook and quaked,

The foundations of heaven were trembling

And were shaken, because He was angry.

9Smoke went up out of His nostrils,

Fire from His mouth devoured;

Coals were kindled by it.

10He bowed the heavens also, and came down

With thick darkness under His feet.

11And He rode on a cherub and flew;

And He appeared on the wings of the wind.

12And He made darkness canopies around Him,

A mass of waters, thick clouds of the sky.

13From the brightness before Him

Coals of fire were kindled.

14The Lord thundered from heaven,

And the Most High uttered His voice.

15And He sent out arrows, and scattered them,

Lightning, and routed them.

16Then the channels of the sea appeared,

The foundations of the world were laid bare

By the rebuke of the Lord,

At the blast of the breath of His nostrils.

17He sent from on high, He took me;

He drew me out of many waters.

18He delivered me from my strong enemy,

From those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.

19They confronted me in the day of my calamity,

But the Lord was my support.

20He also brought me forth into a broad place;

He rescued me, because He delighted in me.

21The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness;

According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me.

22For I have kept the ways of the Lord,

And have not acted wickedly against my God.

23For all His ordinances were before me,

And as for His statutes, I did not depart from them.

24I was also blameless toward Him,

And I kept myself from my iniquity.

25Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness,

According to my cleanness before His eyes.

26With the kind You show Yourself kind,

With the blameless You show Yourself blameless;

27With the pure You show Yourself pure,

And with the perverted You show Yourself astute.

28And You save an afflicted people;

But Your eyes are on the haughty whom You abase.

29For You are my lamp, O Lord;

And the Lord illumines my darkness.

30For by You I can run upon a troop;

By my God I can leap over a wall.

31As for God, His way is blameless;

The word of the Lord is tested;

He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.

32For who is God, besides the Lord?

And who is a rock, besides our God?

33God is my strong fortress;

And He sets the blameless in His way.

34He makes my feet like hinds’ feet,

And sets me on my high places.

35He trains my hands for battle,

So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

36You have also given me the shield of Your salvation,

And Your help makes me great.

37You enlarge my steps under me,

And my feet have not slipped.

38I pursued my enemies and destroyed them,

And I did not turn back until they were consumed.

39And I have devoured them and shattered them, so that they did not rise;

And they fell under my feet.

40For You have girded me with strength for battle;

You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.

41You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me,

And I destroyed those who hated me.

42They looked, but there was none to save;

Even to the Lord, but He did not answer them.

43Then I pulverized them as the dust of the earth;

I crushed and stamped them as the mire of the streets.

44You have also delivered me from the contentions of my people;

You have kept me as head of the nations;

A people whom I have not known serve me.

45Foreigners pretend obedience to me;

As soon as they hear, they obey me.

46Foreigners lose heart,

And come trembling out of their fortresses.

47The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock;

And exalted be God, the rock of my salvation,

48The God who executes vengeance for me,

And brings down peoples under me,

49Who also brings me out from my enemies;

You even lift me above those who rise up against me;

You rescue me from the violent man.

50Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the nations,

And I will sing praises to Your name.

51He is a tower of deliverance to His king,

And shows lovingkindness to His anointed,

To David and his descendants forever.”

David’s Last Song

1Now these are the last words of David.

David the son of Jesse declares,

The man who was raised on high declares,

The anointed of the God of Jacob,

And the sweet psalmist of Israel,

2“The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me,

And His word was on my tongue.

3The God of Israel said,

The Rock of Israel spoke to me,

‘He who rules over men righteously,

Who rules in the fear of God,

4Is as the light of the morning when the sun rises,

A morning without clouds,

When the tender grass springs out of the earth,

Through sunshine after rain.’

5Truly is not my house so with God?

For He has made an everlasting covenant with me,

Ordered in all things, and secured;

For all my salvation and all my desire,

Will He not indeed make it grow?

6But the worthless, every one of them will be thrust away like thorns,

Because they cannot be taken in hand;

7But the man who touches them

Must be armed with iron and the shaft of a spear,

And they will be completely burned with fire in their place.”

His Mighty Men

8These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite, chief of the captains, he was called Adino the Eznite, because of eight hundred slain by him at one time; 9and after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there to battle and the men of Israel had withdrawn. 10He arose and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary and clung to the sword, and the Lord brought about a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to strip the slain.

11Now after him was Shammah the son of Agee a Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered into a troop where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the people fled from the Philistines. 12But he took his stand in the midst of the plot, defended it and struck the Philistines; and the Lord brought about a great victory.

13Then three of the thirty chief men went down and came to David in the harvest time to the cave of Adullam, while the troop of the Philistines was camping in the valley of Rephaim. 14David was then in the stronghold, while the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. 15David had a craving and said, “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate!” 16So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem which was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord; 17and he said, “Be it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

18Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the thirty. And he swung his spear against three hundred and killed them, and had a name as well as the three. 19He was most honored of the thirty, therefore he became their commander; however, he did not attain to the three.

20Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit on a snowy day. 21He killed an Egyptian, an impressive man. Now the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but he went down to him with a club and snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. 22These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and had a name as well as the three mighty men. 23He was honored among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. And David appointed him over his guard.

The Day of Pentecost

1When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. 4And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

5Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. 7They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? 9Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” 12And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13But others were mocking and saying, “They are full of sweet wine.”

Peter’s Sermon

14But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. 15For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; 16but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:

17‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says,

‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind;

And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

And your young men shall see visions,

And your old men shall dream dreams;

18Even on My bondslaves, both men and women,

I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit

And they shall prophesy.

19And I will grant wonders in the sky above

And signs on the earth below,

Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke.

20The sun will be turned into darkness

And the moon into blood,

Before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come.

21And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

22“Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— 23this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. 24But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. 25For David says of Him,

‘I saw the Lord always in my presence;

For He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken.

26Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted;

Moreover my flesh also will live in hope;

27Because You will not abandon my soul to Hades,

Nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.

28You have made known to me the ways of life;

You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.’

29“Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, 31he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. 32This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. 33Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. 34For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says:

‘The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at My right hand,

35Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” ’

36Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”

The Ingathering

37Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” 38Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” 40And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” 41So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. 42They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

43Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. 44And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; 45and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. 46Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, 47praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

PSALM 122

Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem.

A Song of Ascents, of David.

1I was glad when they said to me,

“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

2Our feet are standing

Within your gates, O Jerusalem,

3Jerusalem, that is built

As a city that is compact together;

4To which the tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord—

An ordinance for Israel—

To give thanks to the name of the Lord.

5For there thrones were set for judgment,

The thrones of the house of David.

6Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:

“May they prosper who love you.

7May peace be within your walls,

And prosperity within your palaces.”

8For the sake of my brothers and my friends,

I will now say, “May peace be within you.”

9For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,

I will seek your good.

19It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly

Than to divide the spoil with the proud.

20He who gives attention to the word will find good,

And blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.