1 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, my soul!
2 I will praise the Lord while I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
3 Do not trust in noblemen,
In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.
4 His spirit departs, he returns to the earth;
On that very day his plans perish.
5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
Whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6 Who made heaven and earth,
The sea and everything that is in them;
Who keeps faith forever;
7 Who executes justice for the oppressed;
Who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord frees the prisoners.
8 The Lord opens the eyes of those who are blind;
The Lord raises up those who are bowed down;
The Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over strangers;
He supports the fatherless and the widow,
But He thwarts the way of the wicked.
10 The Lord will reign forever,
Your God, Zion, to all generations.
Praise the Lord!
1 Praise the Lord!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
For it is pleasant and praise is beautiful.
2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
He gathers the outcasts of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted
And binds up their wounds.
4 He counts the number of the stars;
He gives names to all of them.
5 Great is our Lord and abundant in strength;
His understanding is infinite.
6 The Lord supports the afflicted;
He brings the wicked down to the ground.
7 Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
Sing praises to our God on the lyre;
8 It is He who covers the heavens with clouds,
Who provides rain for the earth,
Who makes grass sprout on the mountains.
9 It is He who gives an animal its food,
And feeds young ravens that cry.
10 He does not delight in the strength of the horse;
He does not take pleasure in the legs of a man.
11 The Lord favors those who fear Him,
Those who wait for His faithfulness.
12 Praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
Praise your God, Zion!
13 For He has strengthened the bars of your gates;
He has blessed your sons among you.
14 He makes peace in your borders;
He satisfies you with the finest of the wheat.
15 He sends His command to the earth;
His word runs very swiftly.
16 He showers snow like wool;
He scatters the frost like ashes.
17 He hurls His ice as fragments;
Who can stand before His cold?
18 He sends His word and makes them melt;
He makes His wind blow, and the waters flow.
19 He declares His words to Jacob,
His statutes and His judgments to Israel.
20 He has not dealt this way with any other nation;
And as for His judgments, they have not known them.
Praise the Lord!
1 Now the apostles and the brothers and sisters who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, the Jewish believers took issue with him, 3 saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” 4 But Peter began and explained at length to them in an orderly sequence, saying, 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, an object coming down like a great sheet lowered by four corners from the sky; and it came to where I was, 6 and I stared at it and was thinking about it, and I saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild animals, the crawling creatures, and the birds of the sky. 7 I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 But I said, ‘By no means, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But a voice from heaven answered a second time, ‘What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.’ 10 This happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into the sky. 11 And behold, at that moment three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea came up to the house where we were staying. 12 And the Spirit told me to go with them without misgivings. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 And he reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, and saying, ‘Send some men to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here; 14 and he will speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ 15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 Therefore, if God gave them the same gift as He also gave to us after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” 18 When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has also granted to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”
19 So then those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone. 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks as well, preaching the good news of the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. 22 The news about them reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch. 23 Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord; 24 for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and faith. And considerable numbers were added to the Lord. 25 And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul; 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers of people; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
27 Now at this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and indicated by the Spirit that there would definitely be a severe famine all over the world. And this took place in the reign of Claudius. 29 And to the extent that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the relief of the brothers and sisters living in Judea. 30 And they did this, sending it with Barnabas and Saul to the elders.