Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Everyone Should Praise God
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm. A song.
67 God, have mercy on us and bless us
and show us your kindness Selah
2 so the world will learn your ways,
and all nations will learn that you can save.
3 God, the people should praise you;
all people should praise you.
4 The nations should be glad and sing
because you judge people fairly.
You guide all the nations on earth. Selah
5 God, the people should praise you;
all people should praise you.
6 The land has given its crops.
God, our God, blesses us.
7 God blesses us
so people all over the earth will fear him.
A Prayer for Help
15 Lord, look down from the heavens and see;
look at us from your wonderful and holy home in heaven.
Where is your strong love and power?
Why are you keeping your love and mercy from us?
16 You are our father.
Abraham doesn’t know we are his children,
and Israel doesn’t recognize us.
Lord, you are our father.
You are called “the one who has always saved us.”
17 Lord, why are you making us wander from your ways?
Why do you make us stubborn so that we don’t honor you?
For our sake come back to us,
your servants, who belong to you.
18 Your people had your Temple for a while,
but now our enemies have walked on your holy place and crushed it.
19 We have become like people you never ruled over,
like those who have never worn your name.
19 Then some evil people came from Antioch and Iconium and persuaded the people to turn against Paul. So they threw stones at him and dragged him out of town, thinking they had killed him. 20 But the followers gathered around him, and he got up and went back into the town. The next day he and Barnabas left and went to the city of Derbe.
The Return to Antioch in Syria
21 Paul and Barnabas told the Good News in Derbe, and many became followers. Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, 22 making the followers of Jesus stronger and helping them stay in the faith. They said, “We must suffer many things to enter God’s kingdom.” 23 They chose elders for each church, by praying and fasting[a] for a certain time. These elders had trusted the Lord, so Paul and Barnabas put them in the Lord’s care.
24 Then they went through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. 25 When they had preached the message in Perga, they went down to Attalia. 26 And from there they sailed away to Antioch where the believers had put them into God’s care and had sent them out to do this work. Now they had finished.
27 When they arrived in Antioch, Paul and Barnabas gathered the church together. They told the church all about what God had done with them and how God had made it possible for those who were not Jewish to believe. 28 And they stayed there a long time with the followers.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.