Acts 25:3

Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers;

Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.

They conspire and lurk, watching my steps. They are eager to take my life.

“For my people are foolish. They don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but they don’t know how to do good.”

But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter. I didn’t know that they had devised plans against me, saying, “Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit, and let’s cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.”

Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the middle of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words.

When some of both the Gentiles and the Jews, with their rulers, made a violent attempt to mistreat and stone them,

This was because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who stole in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage,

Set two men, wicked fellows, before him, and let them testify against him, saying, ‘You cursed God and the king!’ Then carry him out, and stone him to death.”

For in the day of trouble, he will keep me secretly in his pavilion. In the secret place of his tabernacle, he will hide me. He will lift me up on a rock.

In the shelter of your presence you will hide them from the plotting of man. You will keep them secretly in a dwelling away from the strife of tongues.

They also who seek after my life lay snares. Those who seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and meditate deceits all day long.

Deliver me from the workers of iniquity. Save me from the bloodthirsty men.

Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from the noisy crowd of the ones doing evil;

Deliver me, Yahweh, from my enemies. I flee to you to hide me.

but these lay in wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives.

A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the storm, as streams of water in a dry place, as the shade of a large rock in a weary land.

Yet, Yahweh, you know all their counsel against me to kill me. Don’t forgive their iniquity. Don’t blot out their sin from your sight, Let them be overthrown before you. Deal with them in the time of your anger.

Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the princes and to all the people, saying, “This man is worthy of death; for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.”

But they will do all these things to you for my name’s sake, because they don’t know him who sent me.

Righteous Father, the world hasn’t known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me.

But when some were hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.

About that time there arose no small disturbance concerning the Way.

serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears, and with trials which happened to me by the plots of the Jews;

All the city was moved and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple. Immediately the doors were shut.

When I was told that the Jews lay in wait for the man, I sent him to you immediately, charging his accusers also to bring their accusations against him before you. Farewell.”

But when two years were fulfilled, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, and desiring to gain favor with the Jews, Felix left Paul in bonds.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

They saw him afar off, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him.

When a man vows a vow to Yahweh, or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.

The Gazites were told, “Samson is here!” They surrounded him and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, “Wait until morning light; then we will kill him.”

The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take counsel together, against Yahweh, and against his Anointed, saying,

Yahweh, how my adversaries have increased! Many are those who rise up against me.

For they intended evil against you. They plotted evil against you which cannot succeed.

They conspire with cunning against your people. They plot against your cherished ones.

For wicked men are found among my people. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men.

For I have heard the defaming of many, “Terror on every side! Denounce, and we will denounce him!” say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall. “Perhaps he will be persuaded, and we will prevail against him, and we will take our revenge on him.”

If Gilead is wicked, surely they are worthless. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls. Indeed, their altars are like heaps in the furrows of the field.

For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of Armies.

They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man perverting the nation, forbidding paying taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.”

They said therefore to him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

You have not known him, but I know him. If I said, ‘I don’t know him,’ I would be like you, a liar. But I know him and keep his word.

When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This was during the days of unleavened bread.

But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, and stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and threw them out of their borders.

But the unpersuaded Jews took along some wicked men from the marketplace, and gathering a crowd, set the city in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people.

When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the multitude and laid hands on him,

Being perplexed how to inquire concerning these things, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there be judged concerning these matters.

What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? May it never be!

by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true;

I have been in travels often, perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from my countrymen, perils from the Gentiles, perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brothers;

In Damascus the governor under King Aretas guarded the Damascenes’ city, desiring to arrest me.

So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest!

See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him.

My soul, don’t come into their council. My glory, don’t be united to their assembly; for in their anger they killed men. In their self-will they hamstrung cattle.

The king of Egypt said to them, “Why do you, Moses and Aaron, take the people from their work? Get back to your burdens!”

You are to teach the children of Israel all the statutes which Yahweh has spoken to them by Moses.”

You shall come to the priests who are Levites and to the judge who shall be in those days. You shall inquire, and they shall give you the verdict.

The wicked have laid a snare for me, yet I haven’t gone astray from your precepts.

arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

The burden of Damascus. “Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap.

The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’ and those who handle the law didn’t know me. The rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal and followed things that do not profit.

They are all grievous rebels, going around to slander. They are bronze and iron. All of them deal corruptly.

Should evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.

They say continually to those who despise me, ‘Yahweh has said, “You will have peace;” ’ and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, ‘No evil will come on you.’

Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to Yahweh for it; for in its peace you will have peace.”

When he was in Benjamin’s gate, a captain of the guard was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are defecting to the Chaldeans!”

Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, ‘As your god, Dan, lives;’ and, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives;’ they will fall, and never rise up again.”

The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net.

John answered them, “I baptize in water, but among you stands one whom you don’t know.

“Now, brothers, I know that you did this in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

and set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking blasphemous words against this holy place and the law.

Here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.”

When he had spent three months there, and a plot was made against him by Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he determined to return through Macedonia.

But this I confess to you, that after the Way, which they call a sect, so I serve the God of our fathers, believing all things which are according to the law, and which are written in the prophets;

But Felix, having more exact knowledge concerning the Way, deferred them, saying, “When Lysias, the commanding officer, comes down, I will decide your case.”

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him,

For they don’t speak peace, but they devise deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land.

The wicked have waited for me, to destroy me. I will consider your statutes.

If they say, “Come with us. Let’s lay in wait for blood. Let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without cause.

Don’t lay in wait, wicked man, against the habitation of the righteous. Don’t destroy his resting place;

Then they said, “Come! Let’s devise plans against Jeremiah; for the law won’t perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let’s strike him with the tongue, and let’s not give heed to any of his words.”

Then the princes said to the king, “Please let this man be put to death; because he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them: for this man doesn’t seek the welfare of this people, but harm.”

Gilead is a city of those who work iniquity; it is stained with blood.

They will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.

Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”

and asked for letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

but their plot became known to Saul. They watched the gates both day and night that they might kill him,

When it was day, some of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.

Now therefore, you with the council inform the commanding officer that he should bring him down to you tomorrow, as though you were going to judge his case more exactly. We are ready to kill him before he comes near.”

Therefore don’t yield to them, for more than forty men lie in wait for him, who have bound themselves under a curse to neither eat nor drink until they have killed him. Now they are ready, looking for the promise from you.”

But Festus, desiring to gain favor with the Jews, answered Paul and said, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem, and be judged by me there concerning these things?”

delivering you from the people, and from the Gentiles, to whom I send you,

For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.

Why not (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say), “Let’s do evil, that good may come?” Those who say so are justly condemned.

Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the bandit by the way.

The words of the wicked are about lying in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them.