Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 29^[a]

A Psalm of David.

¹ Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

² Give to the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness or in holy array.

³ The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of glory thunders; the Lord is upon many (great) waters.

⁴ The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

⁵ The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; yes, the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.

⁶ He makes them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion (Mount Hermon) like a young, wild ox.

⁷ The voice of the Lord splits and flashes forth forked lightning.

⁸ The voice of the Lord makes the wilderness tremble; the Lord shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh.

⁹ The voice of the Lord makes the hinds bring forth their young, and His voice strips bare the forests, while in His temple everyone is saying, Glory!

¹⁰ The Lord sat as King over the deluge; the Lord [still] sits as King [and] forever!

¹¹ The Lord will give [unyielding and impenetrable] strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.

² Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chiefs of the fathers’ houses of the Israelites, to Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the City of David, which is Zion.

³ All the men of Israel gathered to the king at the feast in the seventh month.

⁴ And all the elders of Israel came, and the Levites took up the ark.

⁵ And the priests and Levites brought up the ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent.

⁶ Also King Solomon and all the assembly of Israel who were gathered to him before the ark sacrificed sheep and oxen so numerous that they could not be counted or reported.

⁷ And the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, to the sanctuary of the house, into the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the cherubim;

⁸ For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, making a covering above the ark and its poles.

⁹ And they drew out the poles of the ark, so that the ends of the poles protruding from the ark were visible from the front of the Holy of Holies, but were not visible from without. It is there to this day.

¹⁰ There was nothing in the ark except the two tables [the Ten Commandments] which Moses put in it at Mount Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of Egypt.

¹¹ And when the priests had come out of the Holy Place—for all the priests present had sanctified themselves, separating themselves from everything that defiles, without regard to their divisions;

¹² And all the Levites who were singers—all of those of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, with their sons and kinsmen, arrayed in fine linen, having cymbals, harps, and lyres—stood at the east end of the altar, and with them 120 priests blowing trumpets;

¹³ And when the trumpeters and singers were joined in unison, making one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and other instruments for song and praised the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever, then the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud,

¹⁴ So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.

¹⁹ Wherefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision,

²⁰ But made known openly first of all to those at Damascus, then at Jerusalem and throughout the whole land of Judea, and also among the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works and live lives consistent with and worthy of their repentance.

²¹ Because of these things the Jews seized me in the temple [^[a]enclosure] and tried to do away with me.

²² [But] to this day I have had the help which comes from God [as my ^[b]ally], and so I stand here testifying to small and great alike, asserting nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses declared would come to pass—

²³ That the Christ (the Anointed One) must suffer and that He, by being the first to rise from the dead, would declare and show light both to the [Jewish] people and to the Gentiles.

²⁴ And as he thus proceeded with his defense, Festus called out loudly, Paul, you are mad! Your great learning is driving you insane!

²⁵ But Paul replied, I am not mad, most noble Festus, but I am uttering the straight, sound truth.

²⁶ For the king understands about these things well enough, and [therefore] to him I speak with bold frankness and confidence. I am convinced that not one of these things has escaped his notice, for all this did not take place in a corner [in secret].

²⁷ King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? [Do you give credence to God’s messengers and their words?] I perceive and know that you do believe.

²⁸ Then Agrippa said to Paul, You think it a small task to make a Christian of me [just offhand to induce me with little ado and persuasion, at very short notice].

²⁹ And Paul replied, Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you, but also all who are listening to me today, might become such as I am, except for these chains.