Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
142 I cried to the LORD with my voice! With my voice I prayed to the LORD.
2 I poured out my meditation before Him, declared my affection in His presence.
3 Though my spirit was overwhelmed in me, You still knew my path. They have secretly laid a snare for me in the way wherein I walk.
4 I looked on my right hand and beheld, but there was no one who knew me. All refuge failed me. No one cared for my soul.
5 I cried to You, O LORD, and said, “You are my Hope, my portion in the land of the living.
6 “Listen to my cry, for I am brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.
7 “Bring my soul out of prison, so that I may praise Your Name. The righteous shall surround me when You are beneficial to me.” A Psalm of David
9 I saw the LORD standing upon the Altar. And He said, “Strike the lintel of the door, so that the posts may shake. And cut them in pieces, even the heads of them all. And I will kill the last of them with the sword. He who flees from them shall not flee away. And he who escapes from them shall not be delivered.
2 “Though they dig into Hell, there shall My hand take them. Though they climb up to Heaven, there will I bring them down.
3 “And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out from there. And though they are hidden from My sight in the bottom of the sea, there will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them.
4 “And although they go into captivity before their enemies, there will I command the sword, and it shall slay them. And I will set My eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.”
12 And when the day had come, some of the Jews assembled and bound themselves with a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.
13 And there were more than forty of them who hatched this plot.
14 And they came to the chief priests and elders, and said, “We have bound ourselves with a solemn curse, that we will eat nothing until we have killed Paul.
15 “Now therefore, you and the Council send word to the chief captain as though you wanted to inquire further about him, so that he will bring him forth to you tomorrow. And we will be ready to kill him before he comes near.”
16 But when Paul’s sister’s son heard of their ambush, he went and entered into the castle and told Paul.
17 And Paul called one of the Centurions to him, and said, “Take this young man to the chief captain. For he has something to tell him.”
18 So he took him, and brought him to the chief captain, and said, “Paul, the prisoner, called me to him and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to say to you.”
19 Then the chief captain took him by the hand, and went away with him alone, and asked him, “What have you to tell me?”
20 And he said, “The Jews have conspired to ask if you would bring forth Paul tomorrow into the Council, as though they would inquire further about him.
21 “But do not let them persuade you. For they have set an ambush for him, more than forty men, who have bound themselves with a curse that they will neither eat nor drink until they have killed him. And now they are ready and await your promise.”
22 The chief captain then let the young man go, after he had instructed him to tell no one that he had told him these things.
23 And he called two certain Centurions to him, saying, “Prepare two hundred soldiers and seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea at the third hour of the night.
24 “And let them make horses ready. So that, being set upon, Paul he may be safely brought to Felix the Governor.”
25 And he wrote a letter in this manner:
26 “Claudius Lysias, to the most noble Governor Felix, sends greeting.
27 “As this man was taken by the Jews, and would have been killed by them, I came upon them with a garrison, and rescued him, perceiving that he was a Roman.
28 “And when I wanted to know the reason why they accused him, I brought him forth into their Council.
29 “I perceived that he was accused about questions of their Law, but had no crime worthy of death, or of bonds.
30 “And when it was told to me that the Jews had prepared an ambush for the man, I immediately sent him to you, and commanded his accusers to state before you the things which they had against him. Farewell.”
31 Then, as commanded, the soldiers took Paul by night and brought him to Antipatris.
32 And the next day, they left the horsemen to go with him, and returned into the Castle.
33 Now when they came to Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the Governor, and also presented Paul to him.
34 So, after the Governor had read it, he asked from what province he was. And when he learned that he was from Cilicia,
35 he said, “I will hear you once your accusers have also come.” And he commanded that he be kept in Herod’s judgment hall.
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