Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Prayer for Help
142 I cry with a loud voice to the Lord. I pray with my voice to the Lord. 2 I talk and complain to Him. I tell Him all my trouble. 3 When my spirit had grown weak within me, You knew my path. They have hidden a trap for me in the way where I walk. 4 Look to the right and see. For there is no one who thinks about me. There is no place for me to go to be safe. No one cares about my soul.
5 I cried out to You, O Lord. I said, “You are my safe place, my share in the land of the living. 6 Listen to my cry, for I am brought down. Save me from those who make it hard for me. For they are too strong for me. 7 Bring my soul out of prison, so that I may give thanks to Your name. Those who are right and good will gather around me. For You will give much to me.”
The Lord Judges Israel
9 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said, “Break the tops of the pillars so that the bases shake! Break them to pieces on the heads of all the people! Then I will kill the rest of them with the sword. Not one of them will get away. 2 Even if they dig into the place of the dead, My hand will take them from there. Even if they go up to heaven, I will bring them down from there. 3 Even if they hide on the top of Mount Carmel, I will find them and take them from there. Even if they hide themselves from My eyes on the bottom of the sea, there I will tell the large sea-snake to bite them. 4 Even if they are taken away to a strange land by those who hate them, there I will have the sword kill them. I will set My eyes against them to hurt them, and not to bring good to them.”
The Plan to Kill Paul
12 In the morning some of the Jews gathered together and made a plan to kill Paul. They promised each other that they would not eat or drink until they had killed him. 13 There were more than forty of them who had made this promise. 14 These people came to the head religious leader and to the leaders of the people and said, “We have made a promise not to eat any food until we have killed Paul. 15 We ask you and the court to have the captain bring Paul down to you tomorrow. It will look as if you want to ask him some things. Before he gets near you, we will be waiting to kill him.”
16 Paul’s nephew heard about the plan. He went to the soldiers’ building and told Paul. 17 Paul called one of the soldiers and said, “Take this young man to the captain. He has something to tell him.” 18 The soldiers brought the young man to the captain and said, “Paul asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to tell you.” 19 The captain took him by the hand and they walked over where they could be alone. He said, “What is it that you have to tell me?” 20 The young man said, “The Jews have made a plan to ask you to bring Paul to the courtroom tomorrow. It would look as if they were going to ask him some things. 21 Do not let them talk you into it. More than forty men are waiting in secret to kill him. They have promised each other not to eat or drink anything until they have killed him. They are all waiting for you to say the word.” 22 The captain told the young man to go. He said, “Do not tell anyone you have told me this.”
Paul Is Sent to Felix in Caesarea
23 Then the captain called two soldiers and said, “Get 200 men ready to go to the city of Caesarea by nine o’clock tonight. Also have seventy men ride on horses and 200 men carry spears. 24 Get horses ready for Paul to ride. Take him to Felix, the leader of the people.”
25 He wrote a letter which said, 26 “Claudius Lysias greets Felix, the best leader of the people. 27 This man Paul was taken by the Jews. He was about to be killed by them. But I came along with my soldiers and kept him from being killed. I did this when I learned that he was a Roman citizen. 28 I wanted to know what they had against him. So I took him to the religious leaders’ court. 29 I learned they were holding him because of something about their Law. There was no reason for him to be killed or to be put in prison. 30 I was told that the Jews had a plan to kill this man. At once I sent him to you. I told the Jews who wanted to kill him to tell you what they have against him. Good-bye.”
31 The soldiers took Paul as they were told. They brought him during the night to Antipatris. 32 The next day they went back to their building in Jerusalem. The men riding horses went on with Paul. 33 When they came to Caesarea, they gave the letter to the leader of the people. They also handed Paul over to him. 34 After he read the letter, he asked what part of the country Paul was from. He was told that Paul was from the city of Cilicia. 35 He said, “I will listen to all of this when the men come who want to kill you.” He had Paul kept in King Herod’s building.
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