it is sung by children and babies. You are safe and secure from all your enemies; you stop anyone who opposes you.

He has humbled those who were proud; he destroyed the strong city they lived in, and sent its walls crashing into the dust.

Those who were oppressed walk over it now and trample it under their feet.

So I will startle them with one unexpected blow after another. Those who are wise will turn out to be fools, and all their cleverness will be useless."

Poor and humble people will once again find the happiness which the LORD, the holy God of Israel, gives.

I will leave there a humble and lowly people, who will come to me for help.

As Jesus walked along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw two brothers who were fishermen, Simon (called Peter) and his brother Andrew, catching fish in the lake with a net.

At once they left their nets and went with him.

and at once they left the boat and their father, and went with him.

Jesus left that place, and as he walked along, he saw a tax collector, named Matthew, sitting in his office. He said to him, "Follow me." Matthew got up and followed him.

At that time Jesus said, "Father, Lord of heaven and earth! I thank you because you have shown to the unlearned what you have hidden from the wise and learned.

So they asked Jesus, "Do you hear what they are saying?" "Indeed I do," answered Jesus. "Haven't you ever read this scripture? 'You have trained children and babies to offer perfect praise.' "

Then some of the Pharisees in the crowd spoke to Jesus. "Teacher," they said, "command your disciples to be quiet!"

Jesus answered, "I tell you that if they keep quiet, the stones themselves will start shouting."

because I will give you such words and wisdom that none of your enemies will be able to refute or contradict what you say.

Jesus is the one of whom the scripture says, 'The stone that you the builders despised turned out to be the most important of all.'

The members of the Council were amazed to see how bold Peter and John were and to learn that they were ordinary men of no education. They realized then that they had been companions of Jesus.

So they told them to leave the Council room, and then they started discussing among themselves.

But to keep this matter from spreading any further among the people, let us warn these men never again to speak to anyone in the name of Jesus."

But Peter and John answered them, "You yourselves judge which is right in God's sight---to obey you or to obey God.

So the Council warned them even more strongly and then set them free. They saw that it was impossible to punish them, because the people were all praising God for what had happened.

But he was opposed by some men who were members of the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), which had Jews from Cyrene and Alexandria. They and other Jews from the provinces of Cilicia and Asia started arguing with Stephen.

But the Spirit gave Stephen such wisdom that when he spoke, they could not refute him.

"Moses is the one who was rejected by the people of Israel. 'Who made you ruler and judge over us?' they asked. He is the one whom God sent to rule the people and set them free with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush.

As the members of the Council listened to Stephen, they became furious and ground their teeth at him in anger.

Certain Epicurean and Stoic teachers also debated with him. Some of them asked, "What is this ignorant show-off trying to say?" Others answered, "He seems to be talking about foreign gods." They said this because Paul was preaching about Jesus and the resurrection.

After some days Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and listened to him as he talked about faith in Christ Jesus.

But as Paul went on discussing about goodness, self-control, and the coming Day of Judgment, Felix was afraid and said, "You may leave now. I will call you again when I get the chance."

Yet we who have this spiritual treasure are like common clay pots, in order to show that the supreme power belongs to God, not to us.

The weapons we use in our fight are not the world's weapons but God's powerful weapons, which we use to destroy strongholds. We destroy false arguments;

we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.

Someone will say, "Paul's letters are severe and strong, but when he is with us in person, he is weak, and his words are nothing!"