The Berean Pursuit
A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
I will sing of the loving devotion of the LORD forever;
with my mouth I will proclaim Your faithfulness to all generations.
For I have said, "Loving devotion is built up forever;
in the heavens You establish Your faithfulness."
You said, "I have made a covenant with My chosen one,
I have sworn to David My servant:
'I will establish your offspring forever
and build up your throne for all generations.'"
Selah
The heavens praise Your wonders, O LORD-
Your faithfulness as well-
in the assembly of the holy ones.
For who in the skies can compare with the LORD?
Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD?
In the council of the holy ones, God is greatly feared,
and awesome above all who surround Him.
O LORD God of Hosts, who is like You?
O mighty LORD, Your faithfulness surrounds You.
You rule the raging sea;
when its waves mount up, You still them.
You crushed Rahab like a carcass;
You scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.
The heavens are Yours, and also the earth.
The earth and its fullness You founded.
North and south You created;
Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Your name.
Mighty is Your arm; strong is Your hand.
Your right hand is exalted.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
loving devotion and faithfulness go before You.
Blessed are those who know the joyful sound,
who walk, O LORD, in the light of Your presence.
They rejoice in Your name all day long,
and in Your righteousness they exult.
For You are the glory of their strength,
and by Your favor our horn is exalted.
Surely our shield belongs to the LORD,
and our king to the Holy One of Israel.
You once spoke in a vision;
to Your godly ones You said,
"I have bestowed help on a warrior;
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
I have found My servant David;
with My sacred oil I have anointed him.
My hand will sustain him;
surely My arm will strengthen him.
No enemy will exact tribute;
no wicked man will oppress him.
I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
My faithfulness and loving devotion will be with him,
and through My name his horn will be exalted.
I will set his hand over the sea,
and his right hand upon the rivers.
He will call to Me, 'You are my Father,
my God, the Rock of my salvation.'
I will indeed appoint him as My firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
I will forever preserve My loving devotion for him,
and My covenant with him will stand fast.
I will establish his line forever,
his throne as long as the heavens endure.
If his sons forsake My law
and do not walk in My judgments,
if they violate My statutes
and fail to keep My commandments,
I will attend to their transgression with the rod,
and to their iniquity with stripes.
But I will not withdraw My loving devotion from him,
nor ever betray My faithfulness.
I will not violate My covenant
or alter the utterance of My lips.
Once and for all I have sworn by My holiness-
I will not lie to David-
his offspring shall endure forever,
and his throne before Me like the sun,
like the moon, established forever,
a faithful witness in the sky."
Selah
Now, however, You have spurned and rejected him;
You are enraged by Your anointed one.
You have renounced the covenant with Your servant
and sullied his crown in the dust.
You have broken down all his walls;
You have reduced his strongholds to rubble.
All who pass by plunder him;
he has become a reproach to his neighbors.
You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
You have made all his enemies rejoice.
You have bent the edge of his sword
and have not sustained him in battle.
You have ended his splendor
and cast his throne to the ground.
You have cut short the days of his youth;
You have covered him with shame.
Selah
How long, O LORD?
Will You hide Yourself forever?
Will Your wrath keep burning like fire?
Remember the briefness of my lifespan!
For what futility You have created all men!
What man can live and never see death?
Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?
Selah
Where, O Lord, is Your loving devotion of old,
which You faithfully swore to David?
Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants,
which I bear in my heart from so many people-
how Your enemies have taunted, O LORD,
and have mocked every step of Your anointed one!
Blessed be the LORD forever!
Amen and amen.
Agrippa said to Paul, "You have permission to speak for yourself."
Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense: "King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today to defend myself against all the accusations of the Jews, especially since you are acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. I beg you, therefore, to listen to me patiently.
Surely all the Jews know how I have lived from the earliest days of my youth, among my own people and in Jerusalem. They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I lived as a Pharisee, adhering to the strictest sect of our religion.
And now I stand on trial because of my hope in the promise that God made to our fathers, the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to realize as they earnestly serve God day and night. It is because of this hope, O king, that I am accused by the Jews. Why would any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?
So then, I too was convinced that I ought to do all I could to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is what I did in Jerusalem. With authority from the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were condemned to death, I cast my vote against them. I frequently had them punished in the synagogues, and I tried to make them blaspheme. In my raging fury against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them.
In this pursuit I was on my way to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'
'Who are You, Lord?' I asked.
'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' the Lord replied. 'But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen from Me and what I will show you. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Me.'
So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. First to those in Damascus and Jerusalem, then to everyone in the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I declared that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds worthy of their repentance. For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me.
But I have had God's help to this day, and I stand here to testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen: that the Christ would suffer, and as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles."
At this stage of Paul's defense, Festus exclaimed in a loud voice, "You are insane, Paul! Your great learning is driving you to madness!"
But Paul answered, "I am not insane, most excellent Festus; I am speaking words of truth and sobriety. For the king knows about these matters, and I can speak freely to him. I am confident that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do."
Then Agrippa said to Paul, "Can you persuade me in such a short time to become a Christian?"
"Short time or long," Paul replied, "I wish to God that not only you but all who hear me this day may become what I am, except for these chains."
Then the king and the governor rose, along with Bernice and those seated with them. On their way out, they said to one another, "This man has done nothing worthy of death or imprisonment."
And Agrippa said to Festus, "This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar."