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JULY 5
their enemies, wherever You send them, and Proverbs 20:13–14
when they pray to You toward this city which 13 Do not love sleep, lest you come to
You have chosen and the temple which I have poverty;
35
built for Your name, then hear from heaven Open your eyes, and you will be
their prayer and their supplication, and maintain satisfied with bread.
their cause.
36 “When they sin against You (for there is no 14 “It is good for nothing,” cries the buyer;
one who does not sin), and You become angry But when he has gone his way, then he
with them and deliver them to the enemy, and boasts.
they take them captive to a land far or near; Acts 13:1–25
yet when they come to themselves in the land
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and make supplication to You in the land of 13 Now in the church that was at Antioch
where they were carried captive, and repent,
there were certain prophets and teach-
their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we ers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger,
have done wrong, and have committed Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been
wickedness’; and when they return to You brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
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with all their heart and with all their soul in 2 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the
the land of their captivity, where they have Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me
been carried captive, and pray toward their Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I
3
land which You gave to their fathers, the city have called them.” Then, having fasted and
which You have chosen, and toward the tem- prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent
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ple which I have built for Your name: then them away.
4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they
hear from heaven Your dwelling place their
prayer and their supplications, and maintain went down to Seleucia, and from there they
5
their cause, and forgive Your people who have sailed to Cyprus. And when they arrived in
40
sinned against You. Now, my God, I pray, let Salamis, they preached the word of God in the
Your eyes be open and let Your ears be atten- synagogues of the Jews. They also had John
tive to the prayer made in this place. as their assistant.
6 Now when they had gone through the
“Now therefore, island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcer-
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Arise, O LORD God, to Your resting place, er, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-
You and the ark of Your strength. Jesus, who was with the proconsul, Sergius
7
Let Your priests, O LORD God, be Paulus, an intelligent man. This man called for
clothed with salvation, Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the
And let Your saints rejoice in word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so
8
goodness. his name is translated) withstood them, seek-
ing to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
42 “O LORD God, do not turn away the face
9 Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with
of Your Anointed;
10
Remember the mercies of Your the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and
servant David.” said, “O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son
of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness,
Psalm 79:11–13 will you not cease perverting the straight
ways of the Lord? And now, indeed, the hand
11
Let the groaning of the prisoner come
11
before You;
According to the greatness of Your
power
Preserve those who are appointed to
die; 13:6 Paphos. The capital of Cyprus and thus
12 And return to our neighbors sevenfold the seat of the Roman government.It also was
into their bosom a great center for the worship of Aphrodite
Their reproach with which they have (Venus), and thus a hotbed for all kinds of
immorality. a certain sorcerer…a Jew.
reproached You, O Lord.
“Sorcerer” is better translated “magician.”
13 Originally it carried no evil connotation, but
So we, Your people and sheep of Your
pasture, later was used to describe all kinds of practi-
Will give You thanks forever; tioners and dabblers in the occult.This partic-
We will show forth Your praise to all ular magician put his knowledge to evil use.
generations.
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