Psalm 17

Prayer for Deliverance from Persecutors

A Prayer of David.

Jacob Sends Presents to Appease Esau

³ Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom,^{(A) 4} instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have lived with Laban as an alien and stayed until now,^{(B) 5} and I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male and female slaves, and I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.’ ”^(C)

⁶ The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”^{(D) 7} Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed, and he divided the people who were with him and the flocks and herds and camels into two companies,^{(E) 8} thinking, “If Esau comes to the one company and destroys it, then the company that is left will escape.”

⁹ And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will do you good,’^{(F) 10} I am not worthy of the least of all the steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies.^{(G) 11} Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him; he may come and kill us all, the mothers with the children.^{(H) 12} Yet you have said, ‘I will surely do you good and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of their number.’ ”^(I)

¹³ So he spent that night there, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau,^{(J) 14} two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty milch camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. ¹⁶ These he delivered into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me, and put a space between drove and drove.” ¹⁷ He instructed the one in the lead, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’ ¹⁸ then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob; they are a present sent to my lord Esau, and moreover he is behind us.’ ” ¹⁹ He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you meet him, ²⁰ and you shall say, ‘Moreover your servant Jacob is behind us.’ ” For he thought, “I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterwards I shall see his face; perhaps he will accept me.”^{(K) 21} So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself spent that night in the camp.

The Coming of the Holy Spirit

2 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.^{(A) 2} And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.^{(B) 3} Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.^(C)

⁵ Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem. ⁶ And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. ⁷ Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? ⁹ Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, ¹¹ Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” ¹² All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³ But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

Peter Addresses the Crowd

¹⁴ But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Fellow Jews^[a] and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. ¹⁵ Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.^{(D) 16} No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

²² “Fellow Israelites,^[b] listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth,^[c] a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know^(I)— ²³ this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law.^{(J) 24} But God raised him up, having released him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power.^{(K) 25} For David says concerning him,

²⁹ “Fellow Israelites,^[d] I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.^{(N) 30} Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne.^{(O) 31} Foreseeing this, David^[e] spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah,^[f] saying,

³² “This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.^{(Q) 33} Being therefore exalted at^[g] the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you see and hear.^{(R) 34} For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

³⁶ “Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah,^[h] this Jesus whom you crucified.”

The First Converts

³⁷ Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers,^[i] what should we do?”^{(T) 38} Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.^{(U) 39} For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.”^{(V) 40} And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” ⁴¹ So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. ⁴² They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Life among the Believers

⁴³ Awe came upon everyone because many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.^{(W) 44} All who believed were together and had all things in common;^{(X) 45} they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds^[j] to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶ Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home^[k] and ate their food with glad and generous^[l] hearts,^{(Y) 47} praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.^(Z)