Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
148 Praise the Lord, O heavens! Praise him from the skies! 2 Praise him, all his angels, all the armies of heaven. 3 Praise him, sun and moon and all you twinkling stars. 4 Praise him, skies above. Praise him, vapors high above the clouds.
5 Let everything he has made give praise to him. For he issued his command, and they came into being; 6 he established them forever and forever. His orders will never be revoked.
7 And praise him down here on earth, you creatures of the ocean depths. 8 Let fire and hail, snow, rain, wind, and weather all obey. 9 Let the mountains and hills, the fruit trees and cedars, 10 the wild animals and cattle, the snakes and birds, 11 the kings and all the people with their rulers and their judges, 12 young men and maidens, old men and children— 13 all praise the Lord together. For he alone is worthy. His glory is far greater than all of earth and heaven. 14 He has made his people strong, honoring his godly ones—the people of Israel, the people closest to him.
Hallelujah! Yes, praise the Lord!
17-18 But after his death, the leaders of Judah came to King Joash and induced him to abandon the Temple of the God of their ancestors and to worship shameful idols instead! So the wrath of God came down upon Judah and Jerusalem again. 19 God sent prophets to bring them back to the Lord, but the people wouldn’t listen.
20 Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah, Jehoiada’s son. He called a meeting of all the people. Standing before them upon a platform, he said to them, “God wants to know why you are disobeying his commandments. For when you do, everything you try fails. You have forsaken the Lord, and now he has forsaken you.”
21 Then the leaders plotted to kill Zechariah, and finally King Joash himself ordered him executed in the court of the Temple. 22 That was how King Joash repaid Jehoiada for his love and loyalty—by killing his son. Zechariah’s last words as he died were, “Lord, see what they are doing and pay them back.”
23 A few months later the Syrian army arrived and conquered Judah and Jerusalem, killing all the leaders of the nation and sending back great quantities of booty to the king of Damascus. 24 It was a great triumph for the tiny Syrian army, but the Lord let the great army of Judah be conquered by them because they had forsaken the Lord God of their ancestors. In that way God executed judgment upon Joash.
6 But with the believers multiplying rapidly, there were rumblings of discontent. Those who spoke only Greek complained that their widows were being discriminated against, that they were not being given as much food in the daily distribution as the widows who spoke Hebrew. 2 So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers.
“We should spend our time preaching, not administering a feeding program,” they said. 3 “Now look around among yourselves, dear brothers, and select seven men, wise and full of the Holy Spirit, who are well thought of by everyone; and we will put them in charge of this business. 4 Then we can spend our time in prayer, preaching, and teaching.”
5 This sounded reasonable to the whole assembly, and they elected the following: Stephen (a man unusually full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, Nicolaus of Antioch (a Gentile convert to the Jewish faith, who had become a Christian).
6 These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them and laid their hands on them in blessing.
7 God’s message was preached in ever-widening circles, and the number of disciples increased vastly in Jerusalem; and many of the Jewish priests were converted too.
51 “You stiff-necked heathen! Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? But your fathers did, and so do you! 52 Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. 53 Yes, and you deliberately destroyed God’s laws, though you received them from the hands of angels.”[a]
54 The Jewish leaders were stung to fury by Stephen’s accusation and ground their teeth in rage. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily upward into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. 56 And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and Jesus the Messiah[b] standing beside God, at his right hand!”
57 Then they mobbed him, putting their hands over their ears, and drowning out his voice with their shouts, 58 and dragged him out of the city to stone him. The official witnesses—the executioners—took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Paul.[c]
59 And as the murderous stones came hurtling at him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And he fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” and with that, he died.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.