Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The Lord the Shepherd
A psalm of David.
23 The Lord is my shepherd;
I have everything I need.
2 He lets me rest in green pastures.
He leads me to calm water.
3 He gives me new strength.
He leads me on paths that are right
for the good of his name.
4 Even if I walk through a very dark valley,
I will not be afraid,
because you are with me.
Your rod and your shepherd’s staff comfort me.
5 You prepare a meal for me
in front of my enemies.
You pour oil of blessing on my head;[a]
you fill my cup to overflowing.
6 Surely your goodness and love will be with me
all my life,
and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.
Destruction Is Coming
17 Get everything you own and prepare to leave,
you people who are trapped by your enemies.
18 This is what the Lord says:
“At this time I will throw out the people who live in this land.
I will bring trouble to them
so that they may be captured.”
19 How terrible it will be for me because of my injury.
My wound cannot be healed.
Yet I told myself,
“This is my sickness; I must suffer through it.”
20 My tent is ruined,
and all its ropes are broken.
My children have gone away and left me.
No one is left to put up my tent again
or to set up a shelter for me.
21 The shepherds are stupid
and don’t ask the Lord for advice.
So they do not have success,
and all their flocks are scattered and lost.
22 Listen! The news is coming.
A loud noise comes from the north
to make the towns of Judah an empty desert
and a home for wild dogs!
Jeremiah’s Prayer
23 Lord, I know that our lives don’t really belong to us.
We can’t control our own lives.
24 Lord, correct me, but be fair.
Don’t punish me in your anger,
or you will destroy me.
25 Pour out your anger on other nations
that do not know you
and do not pray to you.
Those nations have destroyed the people of Jacob.
They have eaten them up completely
and destroyed their homeland.
Paul Preaches in Athens
16 While Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy in Athens, he was troubled because he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 In the synagogue, he talked with the Jews and the Greeks who worshiped God. He also talked every day with people in the marketplace.
18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers[a] argued with him, saying, “This man doesn’t know what he is talking about. What is he trying to say?” Others said, “He seems to be telling us about some other gods,” because Paul was telling them about Jesus and his rising from the dead. 19 They got Paul and took him to a meeting of the Areopagus,[b] where they said, “Please explain to us this new idea you have been teaching. 20 The things you are saying are new to us, and we want to know what this teaching means.” 21 (All the people of Athens and those from other countries who lived there always used their time to talk about the newest ideas.)
22 Then Paul stood before the meeting of the Areopagus and said, “People of Athens, I can see you are very religious in all things. 23 As I was going through your city, I saw the objects you worship. I found an altar that had these words written on it: to a god who is not known. You worship a god that you don’t know, and this is the God I am telling you about! 24 The God who made the whole world and everything in it is the Lord of the land and the sky. He does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 This God is the One who gives life, breath, and everything else to people. He does not need any help from them; he has everything he needs. 26 God began by making one person, and from him came all the different people who live everywhere in the world. God decided exactly when and where they must live. 27 God wanted them to look for him and perhaps search all around for him and find him, though he is not far from any of us: 28 ‘By his power we live and move and exist.’ Some of your own poets have said: ‘For we are his children.’ 29 Since we are God’s children, you must not think that God is like something that people imagine or make from gold, silver, or rock. 30 In the past, people did not understand God, and he ignored this. But now, God tells all people in the world to change their hearts and lives. 31 God has set a day that he will judge all the world with fairness, by the man he chose long ago. And God has proved this to everyone by raising that man from the dead!”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.