Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The Whole World Should Praise the Lord
148 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens! Praise Him on high! 2 Praise Him, all His angels! Praise Him, all His army! 3 Praise Him, sun and moon! Praise Him, all you shining stars! 4 Praise Him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! 5 Let them praise the name of the Lord! For He spoke and they came into being. 6 He has made them last forever and ever. He has set a Law which will not pass away.
7 Praise the Lord from the earth, you large sea animals and all seas, 8 fire and hail, snow and clouds, and wind storms, obeying His Word. 9 Praise the Lord, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all tall trees, 10 wild animals and all cattle, small animals that move on the ground and birds that fly, 11 kings of the earth and all people, princes and all leaders of the earth, 12 both young men and women who have never had men, and old men and children.
13 Let them praise the name of the Lord. For His name alone is honored. His shining-greatness is above earth and heaven. 14 He has raised up a horn for His people, praise for all who belong to Him, for the people of Israel, who are near to Him. Praise the Lord!
Jeremiah’s Trial
26 In the beginning of the rule of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord, saying, 2 “This is what the Lord says: ‘Stand in the open space of the Lord’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah who have come to worship in the Lord’s house. Tell them all the words that I have told you to say to them. Do not leave out one word! 3 It may be they will listen and everyone will turn from his sinful way. Then I may change My mind about the trouble I plan to put on them because of the sinful things they have done.’ 4 And tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says: “If you will not listen to Me and follow My Law which I have set before you, 5 and if you do not listen to the words of My servants who speak for Me, whom I have been sending to you again and again, but you have not listened, 6 then I will make this House of God like Shiloh. And I will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.”’”
7 The religious leaders and the men of God and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. 8 And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had told him to speak to all the people, the religious leaders and men of God and all the people took hold of him, saying, “You must die! 9 Why have you spoken in the name of the Lord saying, ‘This house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be laid waste with no one living in it’?” And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.
12 Then Jeremiah said to all the leaders and to all the people, “The Lord sent me to speak against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. 13 So now change your ways and your works, and obey the voice of the Lord your God. Then the Lord will change His mind about the trouble He has said would come to you. 14 But as for me, see, I am in your hands. Do with me what is good and right in your eyes. 15 Only know for sure that if you put me to death, you will bring the sin of killing a man who is not guilty on yourselves, on this city, and on its people. For it is true that the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words for you to hear.”
Stephen Is Brought in Front of the Religious Leaders’ Court
8 Stephen was a man full of faith and power. He did many great things among the people. 9 But some men came from their place of worship who were known as the Free people. They started to argue with Stephen. These men were from the countries of Cyrene and Alexandria and Cilicia and Asia. 10 Stephen spoke with wisdom and power given by the Holy Spirit. They were not able to say anything against what he said. 11 So they told other men to say, “We have heard him say things against Moses and God.” 12 In this way they got the people talking against Stephen. The leaders of the people and the teachers of the Law came and took him to the religious leaders’ court. 13 The people were told to lie and say, “This man keeps on talking against this place of worship and the Law of Moses. 14 We have heard him say, ‘Jesus of Nazareth is going to pull down this place. He is going to change what Moses taught us.’”
15 The men sitting in the religious leaders’ court were looking at Stephen. They all saw that his face looked like the face of an angel.
The Jews Are Hurt
51 “You have hard hearts and ears that will not listen to me! You are always working against the Holy Spirit. Your early fathers did. You do too. 52 Which of the early preachers was not beaten and hurt by your early fathers? They killed those who told of the coming of the One Right with God. Now you have handed Him over and killed Him. 53 You had the Law given to you by angels. Yet you have not kept it.”
Stephen Is Killed
54 The Jews and religious leaders listened to Stephen. Then they became angry and began to grind their teeth at him. 55 He was filled with the Holy Spirit. As he looked up to heaven, he saw the shining-greatness of God and Jesus standing at the right side of God. 56 He said, “See! I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right side of God!” 57 They cried out with loud voices. They put their hands over their ears and they all pushed on him. 58 Then they took him out of the city and threw stones at him. The men who were throwing the stones laid their coats down in front of a young man named Saul. 59 While they threw stones at Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 After that he fell on his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died.
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