Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
12 ·Happy [Blessed] is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people he chose for his ·very own [L inheritance; Ex. 19:5].
13 The Lord looks down from heaven
and sees every person.
14 From his throne he watches
all who live on earth.
15 He ·made [fashions all] their hearts
and understands everything they do.
16 No king is saved by his ·great [large] army.
No warrior ·escapes [is rescued/T delivered] by his great strength.
17 Horses ·can’t bring [are a vain hope for] victory;
they can’t save by their strength.
18 But the ·Lord looks after [L eye of the Lord is on] those who fear him,
those who ·put their hope [wait on him] in his ·love [loyalty; covenant love].
19 He ·saves [rescues; T delivers] ·them [their soul] from death
and ·spares their lives in times of hunger [revives them in famine].
20 So our hope is in the Lord.
He is our help, our shield to protect us.
21 ·We [L Our hearts] rejoice in him,
because we ·trust [have confidence in] his holy name.
22 Lord, ·show your love to us [L let your loyalty/covenant love be on us]
as we ·put our hope in [wait for] you.
6 I have ·seen [observed] something else ·wrong [evil] ·here on earth [L under the sun; 1:3] that ·causes serious problems for [is frequent among] people. 2 God gives great wealth, ·riches [possessions], and honor to some people; they ·have everything [L lack nothing] they want. But God does not let them ·enjoy such things [L eat of it]; a stranger ·enjoys them instead [L eats of it]. This is useless [1:2] and ·very wrong [a sickening evil]. 3 A man might have a hundred children and live ·a long time [L many years], but what good is it if he ·can’t enjoy the good God gives him [L is not satisfied with the good things he has] or have a proper burial? I say a ·baby born dead [stillborn] is better off than he is. 4 A ·baby born dead [stillborn] is useless [1:2]. ·It returns to darkness without even a name [L Its name is shrouded/obscured in darkness]. 5 That baby never saw the sun and never knew ·anything [or the sun], but it finds more rest than that man. 6 Even if he lives ·two thousand years [L a thousand years two times over], he doesn’t ·enjoy the good God gives him [L experience good times]. ·Everyone is going [L Do not all go…?] to the same place [C the grave].
Stephen’s Speech
7 The high priest said to Stephen, “Are these ·things [charges] true?”
2 Stephen answered, “Brothers [L Men, brothers] and fathers, listen to me. ·Our glorious God [The God of glory] appeared to Abraham, our ·ancestor [patriarch; L father], in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran [C a city in Syria where Abraham resided before reaching the Promised Land; Gen. 11:31]. 3 God said to Abraham, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and go to the land I will show you [Gen. 12:1].’ 4 So Abraham left the ·country [land] of Chaldea [C another name for southern Mesopotamia, the location of Ur] and went to live in Haran. After Abraham’s father [C Terah] died, God sent him to this place where you now live. 5 God did not give Abraham ·any of this land [L an inheritance in it], not even a ·foot of it [L a foot’s length]. But God promised that he would give this land to him [L as a possession] and his ·descendants [L seed; Gen. 12:2], even before Abraham had a child. 6 This is what God said to him: ‘Your ·descendants [L seed] will be ·strangers [foreigners; resident aliens] in a ·land they don’t own [foreign land; land belonging to others; C Egypt]. The people there will make them slaves and will ·mistreat [oppress] them for four hundred years. 7 But I will ·punish [judge] the nation where they are slaves. Then ·your descendants [L they] will leave that land and will worship me in this place [Gen. 15:13–14; Ex. 3:12].’ 8 God made an ·agreement [covenant; C a treaty-like relationship] with Abraham, the sign of which was circumcision [Gen. 17:9–14]. And so when Abraham ·had his son [became the father of; T begat] Isaac, Abraham circumcised him when he was eight days old. Isaac ·also circumcised his son Jacob [or became the father of Jacob], and Jacob ·did the same for his sons, [or became the father of] the twelve ·ancestors of our people [patriarchs; C the twelve sons of Jacob who were the “fathers” of the twelve tribes of Israel].
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