Abishai said to David, "God has put your enemy in your power tonight. Now let me plunge his own spear through him and pin him to the ground with just one blow---I won't have to strike twice!"

But David said, "You must not harm him! The LORD will certainly punish whoever harms his chosen king.

I destroyed the power of cruel men and rescued their victims.

Rescue them from the power of evil people.

"The kind of fasting I want is this: Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free.

Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives.

It so happened that a priest was going down that road; but when he saw the man, he walked on by on the other side.

In the same way a Levite also came there, went over and looked at the man, and then walked on by on the other side.

But they kept on shouting at the top of their voices that Jesus should be crucified, and finally their shouting succeeded.

He set free the man they wanted, the one who had been put in prison for riot and murder, and he handed Jesus over for them to do as they wished.

They all grabbed Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the court. But that did not bother Gallio a bit.

The mob was trying to kill Paul, when a report was sent up to the commander of the Roman troops that all of Jerusalem was rioting.

At once the commander took some officers and soldiers and rushed down to the crowd. When the people saw him with the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

The argument became so violent that the commander was afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces. So he ordered his soldiers to go down into the group, get Paul away from them, and take him into the fort.

Then the commander called two of his officers and said, "Get two hundred soldiers ready to go to Caesarea, together with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen, and be ready to leave by nine o'clock tonight.

Then the commander wrote a letter that went like this:

The Jews seized this man and were about to kill him. I learned that he is a Roman citizen, so I went with my soldiers and rescued him.

I found out that he had not done a thing for which he deserved to die or be put in prison; the accusation against him had to do with questions about their own law.

The soldiers carried out their orders. They got Paul and took him that night as far as Antipatris.

They took him to Caesarea, delivered the letter to the governor, and turned Paul over to him.

he said, "I will hear you when your accusers arrive." Then he gave orders for Paul to be kept under guard in the governor's headquarters.

This is how we know what love is: Christ gave his life for us. We too, then, ought to give our lives for others!

If we are rich and see others in need, yet close our hearts against them, how can we claim that we love God?