Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
(A song for worship.)
The Lord Will Protect His People
1 I look to the hills!
Where will I find help?
2 It will come from the Lord,
who created heaven and earth.
3 The Lord is your protector,
and he won't go to sleep
or let you stumble.
4 The protector of Israel
doesn't doze
or ever get drowsy.
5 The Lord is your protector,
there at your right side
to shade you from the sun.
6 You won't be harmed
by the sun during the day
or by the moon[a] at night.
7 The Lord will protect you
and keep you safe
from all dangers.
8 The Lord will protect you
now and always
wherever you go.
The New Jerusalem
11 (A)(B) Jerusalem, you are sad
and discouraged,
tossed around in a storm.
But I, the Lord,
will rebuild your city
with precious stones;[a]
for your foundation
I will use blue sapphires.
12 Your fortresses[b]
will be built of rubies,
your gates of jewels,
and your walls of gems.
13 (C) I will teach your children
and make them successful.
14 You will be built on fairness
with no fears of injustice;
every one of your worries
will be taken far from you.
15 I will never send anyone
to attack your city,
and you will make prisoners
of those who do attack.
16 Don't forget that I created
metalworkers who make weapons
over burning coals.
I also created armies
that can bring destruction.
17 Weapons made to attack you
won't be successful;
words spoken against you
won't hurt at all.
My servants, Jerusalem is yours!
I, the Lord, promise
to bless you with victory.
22 So Paul stood up in front of the council and said:
People of Athens, I see that you are very religious. 23 (A) As I was going through your city and looking at the things you worship, I found an altar with the words, “To an Unknown God.” You worship this God, but you don't really know him. So I want to tell you about him. 24 (B) This God made the world and everything in it. He is Lord of heaven and earth, and he doesn't live in temples built by human hands. 25 (C) He doesn't need help from anyone. He gives life, breath, and everything else to all people. 26 (D) From one person God made all nations who live on earth, and he decided when and where every nation would be.
27 (E) God has done all this, so that we will look for him and reach out and find him. He isn't far from any of us, 28 and he gives us the power to live, to move, and to be who we are. “We are his children,” just as some of your poets have said.
29 Since we are God's children, we must not think that he is like an idol made out of gold or silver or stone. He isn't like anything that humans have thought up and made. 30 In the past, God forgave all this because people did not know what they were doing. But now he says that everyone everywhere must turn to him. 31 He has set a day when he will judge the world's people with fairness. And he has chosen the man Jesus to do the judging for him. God has given proof of this to all of us by raising Jesus from death.
32 As soon as the people heard Paul say a man had been raised from death, some of them started laughing. Others said, “We will hear you talk about this some other time.” 33 When Paul left the council meeting, 34 some of the men put their faith in the Lord and went with Paul. One of them was a council member named Dionysius. A woman named Damaris and several others also put their faith in the Lord.
Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society For more information about CEV, visit www.bibles.com and www.cev.bible.