Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

To the chief Musician. Upon Nehiloth. A Psalm of David.

5 Give ear to my words, O Jehovah; consider my meditation.

² Hearken unto the voice of my crying, my king and my God; for to thee will I pray.

³ Jehovah, in the morning shalt thou hear my voice; in the morning will I address myself to thee, and will look up.

⁴ For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness; evil shall not sojourn with thee.

⁵ Insolent fools shall not stand before thine eyes; thou hatest all workers of iniquity.

⁶ Thou wilt destroy them that speak lies: Jehovah abhorreth a man of blood and deceit.

⁷ But as for me, in the greatness of thy loving-kindness will I enter thy house; I will bow down toward the temple of thy holiness in thy fear.

⁸ Lead me, Jehovah, in thy righteousness, because of my foes; make thy way plain before me.

⁹ For there is no certainty in their mouth; their inward part is perversion, their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.

¹⁰ Bring guilt upon them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels: drive them out in the multitude of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against thee.

¹¹ And all that trust in thee shall rejoice: for ever shall they shout joyously, and thou wilt protect them; and they that love thy name shall exult in thee.

¹² For thou, Jehovah, wilt bless the righteous [man]; with favour wilt thou surround him as [with] a shield.

1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the fortress,

² that Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and [certain] men of Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, who were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.

³ And they said to me, Those who remain, that are left of the captivity there in the province, are in great affliction and reproach; and the wall of Jerusalem is in ruins, and its gates are burned with fire.

⁴ And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat and wept, and mourned for days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of the heavens,

⁵ and said, I beseech thee, Jehovah, God of the heavens, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and keep his commandments.

⁶ Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, to hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee at this time, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, confessing the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned.

⁷ We have acted very perversely against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances that thou commandedst thy servant Moses.

⁸ Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye act unfaithfully, I will scatter you among the peoples;

⁹ but if ye return to me, and keep my commandments and do them, though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heavens, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.

¹⁰ And they are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power and by thy strong hand.

¹¹ O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants who delight to fear thy name; and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. Now I was the king's cupbearer.

3 And Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, [which is] the ninth [hour];

² and a certain man who was lame from his mother's womb was being carried, whom they placed every day at the gate of the temple called Beautiful, to ask alms of those who were going into the temple;

³ who, seeing Peter and John about to enter into the temple, asked to receive alms.

⁴ And Peter, looking stedfastly upon him with John, said, Look on us.

⁵ And he gave heed to them, expecting to receive something from them.

⁶ But Peter said, Silver and gold I have not; but what I have, this give I to thee: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazaraean rise up and walk.

⁷ And having taken hold of him [by] the right hand he raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones were made strong.

⁸ And leaping up he stood and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.

⁹ And all the people saw him walking and praising God;

¹⁰ and they recognised him, that it was *he* who sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.