Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Lord Guards His People

A song for going up to worship.

Ezekiel’s Vision of Living Creatures

1 It was the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month of our captivity. I was by the Kebar River among the people who had been carried away as captives. The sky opened, and I saw visions of God.

² It was the fifth day of the month of the fifth year that King Jehoiachin had been a prisoner. ³ The Lord spoke his word to Ezekiel son of Buzi in the land of the Babylonians by the Kebar River. There he felt the power of the Lord.

⁴ When I looked, I saw a stormy wind coming from the north. There was a great cloud with a bright light around it and fire flashing out of it. Something that looked like glowing metal was in the center of the fire. ⁵ Inside the cloud was what looked like four living creatures, who were shaped like humans, ⁶ but each of them had four faces and four wings. ⁷ Their legs were straight. Their feet were like a calf’s hoofs and sparkled like polished bronze. ⁸ The living creatures had human hands under their wings on their four sides. All four of them had faces and wings, ⁹ and their wings touched each other. The living creatures did not turn when they moved, but each went straight ahead.

¹⁰ Their faces looked like this: Each living creature had a human face and the face of a lion on the right side and the face of an ox on the left side. And each one also had the face of an eagle. ¹¹ That was what their faces looked like. Their wings were spread out above. Each had two wings that touched one of the other living creatures and two wings that covered its body. ¹² Each went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, the living creatures would also go, without turning. ¹³ The living creatures looked like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire went back and forth among the living creatures. It was bright, and lightning flashed from it. ¹⁴ The living creatures ran back and forth like bolts of lightning.

¹⁵ Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground by each of the living creatures with its four faces. ¹⁶ The wheels and the way they were made were like this: They looked like sparkling chrysolite. All four of them looked the same, like one wheel crossways inside another wheel. ¹⁷ When they moved, they went in any one of the four directions, without turning as they went. ¹⁸ The rims of the wheels were high and frightening and were full of eyes all around.

¹⁹ When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them. When the living creatures were lifted up from the ground, the wheels also were lifted up. ²⁰ Wherever the spirit would go, the living creatures would go. And the wheels were lifted up beside them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. ²¹ When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved. When the living creatures stopped, the wheels stopped. And when the living creatures were lifted from the ground, the wheels were lifted beside them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

²² Now, over the heads of the living creatures was something like a dome that sparkled like ice and was frightening. ²³ And under the dome the wings of the living creatures were stretched out straight toward one another. Each living creature also had two wings covering its body. ²⁴ I heard the sound of their wings, like the roaring sound of the sea, as they moved. It was like the voice of God Almighty, a roaring sound like a noisy army. When the living creatures stopped, they lowered their wings.

²⁵ A voice came from above the dome over the heads of the living creatures. When the living creatures stopped, they lowered their wings.

¹⁹ After he ate some food, his strength returned.

Saul Preaches in Damascus

Saul stayed with the followers of Jesus in Damascus for a few days. ²⁰ Soon he began to preach about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “Jesus is the Son of God.”

²¹ All the people who heard him were amazed. They said, “This is the man who was in Jerusalem trying to destroy those who trust in this name! He came here to arrest the followers of Jesus and take them back to the leading priests.”

²² But Saul grew more powerful. His proofs that Jesus is the Christ were so strong that his own people in Damascus could not argue with him.

²³ After many days, they made plans to kill Saul. ²⁴ They were watching the city gates day and night, but Saul learned about their plan. ²⁵ One night some followers of Saul helped him leave the city by lowering him in a basket through an opening in the city wall.

Saul Preaches in Jerusalem

²⁶ When Saul went to Jerusalem, he tried to join the group of followers, but they were all afraid of him. They did not believe he was really a follower. ²⁷ But Barnabas accepted Saul and took him to the apostles. Barnabas explained to them that Saul had seen the Lord on the road and the Lord had spoken to Saul. Then he told them how boldly Saul had preached in the name of Jesus in Damascus.

²⁸ And so Saul stayed with the followers, going everywhere in Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. ²⁹ He would often talk and argue with the Jewish people who spoke Greek, but they were trying to kill him. ³⁰ When the followers learned about this, they took Saul to Caesarea and from there sent him to Tarsus.

³¹ The church everywhere in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had a time of peace and became stronger. Respecting the Lord by the way they lived, and being encouraged by the Holy Spirit, the group of believers continued to grow.