Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

JOD.

⁷³ ¶ Thy hands have made me and fashioned me; give me understanding, and I shall learn thy commandments.

⁷⁴ ¶ Those that fear thee will be glad when they see me because I have waited on thy word.

⁷⁵ ¶ I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

⁷⁶ ¶ Let, I pray thee, thy mercy be for my comfort, according to thy spoken word unto thy slave.

⁷⁷ Let thy mercy come unto me, that I may live, for thy law is my delight.

⁷⁸ ¶ Let the proud be ashamed, for they dealt perversely with me without a cause, but I will meditate in thy precepts.

⁷⁹ Let those that fear thee turn unto me and those that have known thy testimonies.

⁸⁰ ¶ Let my heart be perfect in thy statutes that I not be ashamed.

⁴ ¶ Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus hath the LORD said: The one who falls, does he never arise? he who turns away, does he never return?

⁵ Why then is this people of Jerusalem rebellious with a perpetual rebellion? They hold fast deceit; they refuse to return.

⁶ I hearkened and heard, but they did not speak aright: there was no man that repented of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? each one returned to his course as the horse rushes into the battle.

⁷ Even the stork in the heaven knows her appointed time; and the turtle dove and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people did not know the judgment of the LORD.

⁸ How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Behold, certainly in vain did he make the pen; the scribes were in vain.

⁹ The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?

¹⁰ Therefore I will give their wives unto others and their fields unto those that shall inherit them: for each one from the least even unto the greatest is given to greed; from the prophet even unto the priest every one deals falsely.

¹¹ For they have treated the destruction of the daughter of my people lightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.

¹² Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among those that should fall: when I visit them, they shall fall, saith the LORD.

¹³ ¶ I will surely cut them off completely, said the LORD: there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fall; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.

²⁸ And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.

²⁹ And the whole city was filled with confusion, and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre.

³⁰ And when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not.

³¹ And certain of the chief persons of Asia, who were his friends, sent unto him, asking him that he not present himself in the theatre.

³² Some therefore cried one thing, and some another, for the assembly was confused; and most of them did not know why they were come together.

³³ And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander beckoned with the hand and would have made his defense unto the people.

³⁴ But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.

³⁵ Then the town scribe, appeasing the people, said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that does not know how the city of the Ephesians is honored of the great goddess Diana and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?

³⁶ Seeing then that these things cannot be gainsaid, ye ought to be quiet and to do nothing rashly.

³⁷ For ye have brought here these men, who are neither guilty of sacrilege, nor blasphemers of your goddess.

³⁸ Therefore if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a matter against any man, the law is open, and there are proconsuls; let them accuse one another.

³⁹ But if ye enquire any thing concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly.

⁴⁰ For we are in danger of being accused of sedition for this day’s uproar, there being no cause by which we may give an account of this concourse.

⁴¹ And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.