Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Refuge from Trouble
Psalm 142
1 A contemplative poem of David, when he was in the cave, a prayer.
2 I cry aloud with my voice to Adonai.
With my voice I seek favor from Adonai.
3 I pour out my complaint before Him,
before Him I tell my trouble.
4 When my spirit grows faint within me,
You know my path.
In the way where I walk they have hidden a trap for me.
5 Look at my right hand and see,
for no one cares about me.
I have no refuge—
no one cares for my soul.
6 I have cried out to You, Adonai.
I said: “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.”
7 Listen to my cry,
for I am brought very low.
Rescue me from my persecutors,
for they are too strong for me.
8 Bring my soul out of prison,
so I may praise Your Name.
The righteous will triumph through me,
for You will reward me.
Seek Adonai and Live
5 Hear this word that I take up as a lament over you, O house of Israel:
2 She has fallen, never rising again—virgin Israel—
She is forsaken on her land,
with nobody to lift her up.
3 For thus says Adonai Elohim:
“The city that sends out a thousand
will have a hundred left,
and one that sends out a hundred
will have ten left for the house of Israel.”
4 For thus says Adonai to the house of Israel:
“Seek Me, and live!
5 But do not seek Bethel,
do not go to Gilgal,
do not cross over to Beersheba.
For Gilgal will surely go into exile,
and Bethel will come to trouble.
6 Seek Adonai, and live—
lest He rush like fire through the house of Joseph.
Yes, it will devour Bethel,
with no one to quench it.[a]
Sins of Injustice
7 You who turn justice to wormwood
threw righteousness to the ground.
8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion
and changes deep darkness to morning.
Who darkens the day into night.
Who summons the water of the sea
and pours it out on the face of the earth
—Adonai is His Name.
9 He flashes destruction on the mighty,
so destruction will come against a fortress.
Trouble at the Temple
27 When the seven days were about to be completed, the Jewish leaders from Asia[a] saw Paul in the Temple and began stirring up the whole crowd. They grabbed him, 28 shouting, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching all men everywhere against our people and the Torah and this place. Besides, he has even brought Greeks into the Temple and defiled[b] this holy place!”
29 For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they assumed that Paul had brought him into the Temple. 30 The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together. They grabbed Paul and dragged him out of the Temple, and the gates were shut at once.
31 As they were trying to kill him, news came to the commander of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in chaos. 32 Immediately he took soldiers and centurions and rushed down to them. Upon seeing the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33 Then the commander came up, arrested Paul, ordered him to be bound with two chains, and began investigating what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd shouted one thing, and some another. As he could not determine the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into headquarters.
35 When he came to the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd. 36 For the multitude of people that followed kept shouting, “Away with him!”
37 As Paul was about to be brought into the headquarters, he said to the commander, “Can I say something to you?”
The commander said, “You know Greek? 38 Then you’re not the Egyptian who stirred up a rebellion some time ago—and led four thousand men of the Assassins out into the desert?”
39 Paul said, “I am a Jewish man from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city. I beg you, let me speak to the people.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.