Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Book 5
Psalms 107—150
God Saves from Many Dangers
107 Thank the Lord because he is good.
His love continues forever.
2 That is what the people the Lord has saved should say.
They are the ones he has saved from the enemy.
3 He has gathered them from other lands,
from east and west, north and south.
23 Others went out to sea in ships.
They did business on the great oceans.
24 They saw what the Lord could do.
They saw the miracles he did.
25 He spoke, and a storm came up.
It blew up high waves.
26 The ships tossed as high as the sky and fell low in the waves.
The storm was so bad the men lost their courage.
27 They stumbled and fell like men 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 made the storm be still.
He 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.
They should praise him in the meeting of the elders.
21 “People listened to me carefully.
They 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.
They drank in my words as if they were spring rain.
24 I smiled at them when they doubted.
And my approval was important to them.
25 I chose the right way for them and was their leader.
I lived like a king among his army.
I was like a person who gives comfort to sad people.
30 “But now men who are younger than I make fun of me.
I would not have even let their fathers
sit with my sheep dogs.
2 Their hands had no strength to help me.
They had even lost their strength to work.
3 They were thin from being hungry and in need.
They wandered through the dry and ruined land at night.
4 They gathered desert plants by the brush for food.
They even ate the root of the broom tree.
5 They were forced to live away from other people.
People shouted at them as if they were thieves.
6 These young men had to live in dried up streambeds.
They lived in caves and among the rocks.
7 They howled like animals out among the bushes.
And they huddled together in the brush.
8 They are worthless people without names.
They were forced to leave the land.
9 “Now they make fun of me with songs.
My name has become 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 attack me like a mob.
They lay traps for my feet.
They prepare to attack me.
13 They break up my road.
They work to destroy me
without anyone stopping them.
14 They go forward as if through a hole in the wall.
They roll in among the ruins.
15 Great fears overwhelm me.
They blow my honor away as if by a great wind.
My safety disappears like a cloud.
Paul Goes to Jerusalem
21 We all said good-bye to them and left. We sailed straight to Cos island. The next day, we reached Rhodes, and from Rhodes we went to Patara. 2 There we found a ship that was going to Phoenicia. We went aboard and sailed away. 3 We sailed near the island of Cyprus. We could see 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 we 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. We all knelt down on the beach and prayed. 6 Then we said good-bye and got on the ship. The followers went back home.
7 We continued our trip from Tyre and arrived at Ptolemais. We greeted the believers there and stayed with them for a day. 8 We left Ptolemais and went to the city of Caesarea. There we went into the home of Philip and stayed with him. Philip had the work of telling the Good News. He was one of the seven helpers.[a] 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. Then he used the belt to tie his own hands and feet. He said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘This is how the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man who wears this belt. Then they will give him to the non-Jewish people.’”
12 We all heard these words. So 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 ready to be tied up in Jerusalem. And 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. They took us to the home of Mnason, a man from Cyprus. Mnason was one of the first followers. They took us to his home so that we could stay with him.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.