Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Praise for God’s Love

103 Praise the Lord, O my soul. And all that is within me, praise His holy name. ² Praise the Lord, O my soul. And forget none of His acts of kindness. ³ He forgives all my sins. He heals all my diseases. ⁴ He saves my life from the grave. He crowns me with loving-kindness and pity. ⁵ He fills my years with good things and I am made young again like the eagle.

⁶ The Lord does what is right and fair for all who suffer under a bad power. ⁷ He made His ways known to Moses and His acts to the people of Israel. ⁸ The Lord is full of loving-pity and kindness. He is slow to anger and has much loving-kindness.

¹² Then Solomon gave burnt gifts to the Lord on the Lord’s altar which he had built in front of the porch. ¹³ He gave a certain number of gifts every day, as Moses had said should be given. Gifts were given for the Days of Rest, the new moons, and the three special suppers each year. These special suppers were the Special Supper of Bread Without Yeast, the Special Supper of Weeks, and the Special Supper of Tents. ¹⁴ By the law of David his father, Solomon chose the religious leaders for their different duties. He chose the Levites for their duties of praise and helping the religious leaders for each day’s needs. And he chose who should be the gate-keepers at each gate. For David the man of God had said that this must be done. ¹⁵ They did all that the king had said the religious leaders and Levites must do in every duty and with the store-houses.

Paul and Silas Start a Church in Thessalonica

17 After Paul and Silas had gone through the cities of Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to the city of Thessalonica. The Jews had a place of worship there. ² Paul went in as he always did. They gathered together each Day of Rest for three weeks and he taught them from the Holy Writings. ³ He showed them that Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead. He said, “I preach this Jesus to you. He is the Christ.” ⁴ Some of them put their trust in Christ and followed Paul and Silas. There were many Greek people and some leading women who honored God among those who had become Christians.

The Jews Make It Hard for Paul and Silas

⁵ The Jews who did not put their trust in Christ became jealous. They took along some sinful men from the center of town where people gather and brought them out on the street. These angry men started all the people in the city to cry out with loud voices. They went to the house of Jason hoping to find Paul and Silas there and bring them out to the people. ⁶ But they did not find them there. Then they dragged Jason and some other Christians out in front of the leaders and cried out, “These men who have been making trouble over all the world have come here also. ⁷ And Jason has taken them in. They say there is another King called Jesus. They are working against the laws made by Caesar.”

⁸ When the people and city leaders heard this, they were troubled. ⁹ Then they made Jason and the others pay some money and let them go.