Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Whole World Should Praise the Lord

148 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens! Praise Him on high! ² Praise Him, all His angels! Praise Him, all His army! ³ Praise Him, sun and moon! Praise Him, all you shining stars! ⁴ Praise Him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! ⁵ Let them praise the name of the Lord! For He spoke and they came into being. ⁶ He has made them last forever and ever. He has set a Law which will not pass away.

⁷ Praise the Lord from the earth, you large sea animals and all seas, ⁸ fire and hail, snow and clouds, and wind storms, obeying His Word. ⁹ Praise the Lord, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all tall trees, ¹⁰ wild animals and all cattle, small animals that move on the ground and birds that fly, ¹¹ kings of the earth and all people, princes and all leaders of the earth, ¹² both young men and women who have never had men, and old men and children.

¹³ Let them praise the name of the Lord. For His name alone is honored. His shining-greatness is above earth and heaven. ¹⁴ He has raised up a horn for His people, praise for all who belong to Him, for the people of Israel, who are near to Him. Praise the Lord!

¹⁷ But after the death of Jehoiada, the leaders of Judah came and bowed down in front of the king. And the king listened to them. ¹⁸ They left the house of the Lord the God of their fathers, and worshiped the false gods of Asherah and the objects made to look like them. So anger came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of their sin. ¹⁹ Yet God sent men who speak for God to bring them back to the Lord. These men of God spoke against them, but they would not listen. ²⁰ Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the religious leader. He stood where he could be seen by the people and said to them, “God says, ‘Why do you sin against the Laws of the Lord, and bring trouble on yourselves? Because you have left the Lord, He has left you.’” ²¹ So they made plans against him. At the king’s word, they killed Zechariah with stones in the open space of the Lord’s house. ²² So Joash the king did not remember the kindness his father Jehoiada had shown him, but he killed his son. And when Zechariah was dying, he said, “May the Lord see and punish!”

The Death of Joash

²³ At the end of the year the army of the Syrians came up against Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the leaders of the people. And they sent all they had taken in battle to the king of Damascus. ²⁴ The army of the Syrians came with a small number of men. But the Lord let them win against a very large army. Because the people of Judah and Jerusalem had turned away from the Lord, the God of their fathers. So the Syrians were used to punish Joash.

Church Leaders Are Chosen

6 In those days the group of followers was getting larger. Greek-speaking Jews in the group complained against the Jews living in the country around Jerusalem. The Greek-speaking Jews said that their women whose husbands had died were not taken care of when the food was given out each day. ² So the twelve missionaries called a meeting of the many followers and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the Word of God to hand out food. ³ Brothers, choose from among you seven men who are respected and who are full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. We will have them take care of this work. ⁴ Then we will use all of our time to pray and to teach the Word of God.”

⁵ These words pleased all of them. They chose Stephen who was a man full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit. They also chose Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicholas of Antioch who had become a Jew. ⁶ These men were taken to the missionaries. After praying, the missionaries laid their hands on them.

⁷ The Word of God spread further. The group of followers became much larger in Jerusalem. Many of the religious leaders believed in the faith of the Christians.

The Jews Are Hurt

⁵¹ “You have hard hearts and ears that will not listen to me! You are always working against the Holy Spirit. Your early fathers did. You do too. ⁵² Which of the early preachers was not beaten and hurt by your early fathers? They killed those who told of the coming of the One Right with God. Now you have handed Him over and killed Him. ⁵³ You had the Law given to you by angels. Yet you have not kept it.”

Stephen Is Killed

⁵⁴ The Jews and religious leaders listened to Stephen. Then they became angry and began to grind their teeth at him. ⁵⁵ He was filled with the Holy Spirit. As he looked up to heaven, he saw the shining-greatness of God and Jesus standing at the right side of God. ⁵⁶ He said, “See! I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right side of God!” ⁵⁷ They cried out with loud voices. They put their hands over their ears and they all pushed on him. ⁵⁸ Then they took him out of the city and threw stones at him. The men who were throwing the stones laid their coats down in front of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ While they threw stones at Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ After that he fell on his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died.