Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
God the Help of Those Who Seek Him
A Song of Ascents.
121 I (A)will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
2 (B)My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
3 (C)He will not allow your foot to [a]be moved;
(D)He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.
11 “O you afflicted one,
Tossed with tempest, and not comforted,
Behold, I will lay your stones with (A)colorful gems,
And lay your foundations with sapphires.
12 I will make your pinnacles of rubies,
Your gates of crystal,
And all your walls of precious stones.
13 All your children shall be (B)taught by the Lord,
And (C)great shall be the peace of your children.
14 In righteousness you shall be established;
You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;
And from terror, for it shall not come near you.
15 Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me.
Whoever assembles against you shall (D)fall for your sake.
16 “Behold, I have created the blacksmith
Who blows the coals in the fire,
Who brings forth an [a]instrument for his work;
And I have created the [b]spoiler to destroy.
17 No weapon formed against you shall (E)prosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
(F)And their righteousness is from Me,”
Says the Lord.
Addressing the Areopagus
22 Then Paul stood in the midst of the [a]Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:
TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.
Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 24 (A)God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is (B)Lord of heaven and earth, (C)does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He (D)gives to all life, breath, and all things. 26 And He has made from one [b]blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and (E)the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 (F)so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, (G)though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for (H)in Him we live and move and have our being, (I)as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ 29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, (J)we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. 30 Truly, (K)these times of ignorance God overlooked, but (L)now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which (M)He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by (N)raising Him from the dead.”
32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” 33 So Paul departed from among them. 34 However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.