Acts 26:24-

Acts 26

Not Quite Persuaded

24 As he was making his defense this way, Festus exclaimed in a loud voice, “You’re out of your mind, k Paul! Too much study is driving you mad!”

25 But Paul replied, “I’m not out of my mind, most excellent Festus. On the contrary, I’m speaking words of truth and good judgment. l 26 For the king knows about these matters. It is to him I am actually speaking boldly. For I am convinced that none of these things escapes his notice, since this was not done in a corner. 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you believe.”

28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Are you going to persuade me to become a Christian so easily?”

29 “I wish before God,” replied Paul, “that whether easily or with difficulty, not only you but all who listen to me today might become as I am—except for these chains.” m

30 So the king, the governor, Bernice, and those sitting with them got up, 31 and when they had left they talked with each other and said, “This man is doing nothing that deserves death or chains.” n

32 Then Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.” o

2 Timothy 3

Holman Christian Standard Bible

Difficult Times Ahead

3 But know this: Difficult times will come in the last days. ² For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, ⁴ traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people!

⁶ For among them are those who worm their way into households and capture idle women burdened down with sins, led along by a variety of passions, ⁷ always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Psalm 126

Zion’s Restoration

A song of ascents.

¹ When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,^[a]
we were like those who dream.
² Our mouths were filled with laughter then,
and our tongues with shouts of joy.
Then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
³ The Lord had done great things for us;
we were joyful.

⁴ Restore our fortunes,^[b] Lord,
like watercourses in the Negev.
⁵ Those who sow in tears
will reap with shouts of joy.
⁶ Though one goes along weeping,
carrying the bag of seed,
he will surely come back with shouts of joy,
carrying his sheaves.

Luke 8

Demons Driven Out by the Master

²⁶ Then they sailed to the region of the Gerasenes,^[e] which is opposite Galilee. ²⁷ When He got out on land, a demon-possessed man from the town met Him. For a long time he had worn no clothes and did not stay in a house but in the tombs. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and said in a loud voice, “What do You have to do with me,^[f] Jesus, You Son of the Most High God? I beg You, don’t torment me!” ²⁹ For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was guarded, bound by chains and shackles, he would snap the restraints and be driven by the demon into deserted places.

³⁰ “What is your name?” Jesus asked him.

“Legion,” he said—because many demons had entered him. ³¹ And they begged Him not to banish them to the abyss.

³² A large herd of pigs was there, feeding on the hillside. The demons begged Him to permit them to enter the pigs, and He gave them permission. ³³ The demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned. ³⁴ When the men who tended them saw what had happened, they ran off and reported it in the town and in the countryside. ³⁵ Then people went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man the demons had departed from, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. ³⁶ Meanwhile, the eyewitnesses reported to them how the demon-possessed man was delivered. ³⁷ Then all the people of the Gerasene region^[g] asked Him to leave them, because they were gripped by great fear. So getting into the boat, He returned.

³⁸ The man from whom the demons had departed kept begging Him to be with Him. But He sent him away and said, ³⁹ “Go back to your home, and tell all that God has done for you.” And off he went, proclaiming throughout the town all that Jesus had done for him.