Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
God Saves from Many Dangers
107 Thank the Lord because he is good.
His love continues forever.
2 That is what those whom the Lord has saved should say.
He has saved them from the enemy
3 and has gathered them from other lands,
from east and west, north and south.
23 Others went out to sea in ships
and did business on the great oceans.
24 They saw what the Lord could do,
the miracles he did in the deep oceans.
25 He spoke, and a storm came up,
which blew up high waves.
26 The ships were tossed as high as the sky and fell low to the depths.
The storm was so bad that they lost their courage.
27 They stumbled and fell like people who were drunk.
They did not know what to do.
28 In their misery they cried out to the Lord,
and he saved them from their troubles.
29 He stilled the storm
and calmed the waves.
30 They were happy that it was quiet,
and God guided them to the port they wanted.
31 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his love
and for the miracles he does for people.
32 Let them praise his greatness in the meeting of the people;
let them praise him in the meeting of the elders.
21 “People listened to me carefully
and waited quietly for my advice.
22 After I finished speaking, they spoke no more.
My words fell very gently on their ears.
23 They waited for me as they would for rain
and drank in my words like spring rain.
24 I smiled at them when they doubted,
and my approval was important to them.
25 I chose the way for them and was their leader.
I lived like a king among his army,
like a person who comforts sad people.
30 “But now those who are younger than I
make fun of me.
I would not have even let their fathers
sit with my sheep dogs.
2 What use did I have for their strength
since they had lost their strength to work?
3 They were thin from hunger
and wandered the dry and ruined land at night.
4 They gathered desert plants among the brush
and ate the root of the broom tree.
5 They were forced to live away from people;
people shouted at them as if they were thieves.
6 They lived in dried-up streambeds,
in caves, and among the rocks.
7 They howled like animals among the bushes
and huddled together in the brush.
8 They are worthless people without names
and were forced to leave the land.
9 “Now they make fun of me with songs;
my name is a joke among them.
10 They hate me and stay far away from me,
but they do not mind spitting in my face.
11 God has taken away my strength and made me suffer,
so they attack me with all their anger.
12 On my right side they rise up like a mob.
They lay traps for my feet
and prepare to attack me.
13 They break up my road
and work to destroy me,
and no one helps me.
14 They come at me as if through a hole in the wall,
and they roll in among the ruins.
15 Great fears overwhelm me.
They blow my honor away as if by a great wind,
and my safety disappears like a cloud.
Paul Goes to Jerusalem
21 After we all said good-bye to them, we sailed straight to the island of Cos. The next day we reached Rhodes, and from there we went to Patara. 2 There we found a ship going to Phoenicia, so we went aboard and sailed away. 3 We sailed near the island of Cyprus, seeing it to the north, but we sailed on to Syria. We stopped at Tyre because the ship needed to unload its cargo there. 4 We found some followers in Tyre and stayed with them for seven days. Through the Holy Spirit they warned Paul not to go to Jerusalem. 5 When we finished our visit, we left and continued our trip. All the followers, even the women and children, came outside the city with us. After we all knelt on the beach and prayed, 6 we said good-bye and got on the ship, and the followers went back home.
7 We continued our trip from Tyre and arrived at Ptolemais, where we greeted the believers and stayed with them for a day. 8 The next day we left Ptolemais and went to the city of Caesarea. There we went into the home of Philip the preacher, one of the seven helpers,[a] and stayed with him. 9 He had four unmarried daughters who had the gift of prophesying. 10 After we had been there for some time, a prophet named Agabus arrived from Judea. 11 He came to us and borrowed Paul’s belt and used it to tie his own hands and feet. He said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘This is how evil people in Jerusalem will tie up the man who wears this belt. Then they will give him to the older leaders.’”
12 When we all heard this, we and the people there begged Paul not to go to Jerusalem. 13 But he said, “Why are you crying and making me so sad? I am not only ready to be tied up in Jerusalem, I am ready to die for the Lord Jesus!”
14 We could not persuade him to stay away from Jerusalem. So we stopped begging him and said, “We pray that what the Lord wants will be done.”
15 After this, we got ready and started on our way to Jerusalem. 16 Some of the followers from Caesarea went with us and took us to the home of Mnason, where we would stay. He was from Cyprus and was one of the first followers.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.