Daily Readings - 05/05/2026

^14:19 Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium, and turned the people against the apostles. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the town, thinking he was dead.

^14:20 The disciples came crowding round him but, as they did so, he stood up and went back to the town. The next day he and Barnabas went off to Derbe.

^14:21 Having preached the Good News in that town and made a considerable number of disciples, they went back through Lystra and Iconium to Antioch.

^14:22 They put fresh heart into the disciples, encouraging them to persevere in the faith. ‘We all have to experience many hardships’ they said ‘before we enter the kingdom of God.’

^14:23 In each of these churches they appointed elders, and with prayer and fasting they commended them to the Lord in whom they had come to believe.

^14:24 They passed through Pisidia and reached Pamphylia.

^14:25 Then after proclaiming the word at Perga they went down to Attalia

^14:26 and from there sailed for Antioch, where they had originally been commended to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.

^14:27 On their arrival they assembled the church and gave an account of all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith to the pagans.

^14:28 They stayed there with the disciples for some time.

^144:1 Blessed be Yahweh, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle,

^144:2 my love, my bastion, my citadel, my saviour, I shelter behind him, my shield, he makes the nations submit to me.

^144:3 Yahweh, what is man, that you should notice him? A human being, that you should think about him?

^144:4 Man’s life, a mere puff of wind, his days, as fugitive as shadows.

^144:5 Yahweh, lower your heavens, come down to us! Touch the mountains, make them smoke,

^144:6 flash your lightning – scatter them, shoot your arrows – rout them.

^144:7 Reach down your hand from above, save me, rescue me from deep waters, from the power of aliens

^144:8 who tell nothing but lies, who are prepared to swear to falsehood!

^144:9 God, I have made a new song for you to be played on the ten-string lyre,

^144:10 you who give victory to kings and safety to your servant David. From peril of sword

^144:11 save me, rescue me from the power of aliens who tell nothing but lies, who are prepared to swear to falsehood!

^144:12 May our sons be like plants growing strong from their earliest days, our daughters like corner-statues,[*a] carvings fit for a palace;

^144:13 may our barns overflow with every possible crop, may the sheep in our fields be counted in their thousands and tens of thousands,

^144:14 may our cattle be stout and strong; and may there be an end of raids and exile, and of panic in our streets.

^144:15 Happy the nation of whom this is true, happy the nation whose God is Yahweh!

^14:27 Peace[*c] I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you, a peace the world cannot give, this is my gift to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.

^14:28 You heard me say: I am going away, and shall return. If you loved me you would have been glad to know that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

^14:29 I have told you this now before it happens, so that when it does happen you may believe.

^14:30 I shall not talk with you any longer, because the prince of this world is on his way. He has no power over me,

^14:31 but the world must be brought to know that I love the Father and that I am doing exactly what the Father told me. Come now, let us go.