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.

³ Then Samuel said to all the house of Israel, If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth [female deities] from among you and direct your hearts to the Lord and serve Him only, and He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.

⁴ So the Israelites put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and served the Lord only.

⁵ Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpah and I will pray to the Lord for you.

⁶ So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord and fasted on that day and said there, We have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the Israelites at Mizpah.

⁷ Now when the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines.

⁸ And the Israelites said to Samuel, Do not cease to cry to the Lord our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.

⁹ So Samuel took a sucking lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord; and Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him.

¹⁰ As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the Lord thundered with a great voice that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel.

¹¹ And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and smote them as far as below Beth-car.

¹² Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and he called the name of it Ebenezer [stone of help], saying, Heretofore the Lord has helped us.

¹³ So the Philistines were subdued and came no more into Israelite territory. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

¹⁴ The cities the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath, and Israel rescued [the cities’] territory from the Philistines. There was peace also between Israel and the Amorites.

¹⁵ And Samuel judged Israel all his days.

¹⁶ And he went from year to year on a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, and was judge for Israel in all those places.

¹⁷ Then he would return to Ramah, for his home was there; there he judged Israel, and there he built an altar to the Lord.

¹⁹ And after he took some food, he was strengthened. For several days [afterward] he remained with the disciples at Damascus.

²⁰ And immediately in the synagogues he proclaimed Jesus, saying, He is the Son of God!

²¹ And all who heard him were amazed and said, Is not this the very man who harassed and overthrew and destroyed in Jerusalem those who called upon this Name? And he has come here for the express purpose of arresting them and bringing them in chains before the chief priests.

²² But Saul increased all the more in strength, and continued to confound and put to confusion the Jews who lived in Damascus by comparing and examining evidence and proving that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah).

²³ After considerable time had elapsed, the Jews conspired to put Saul out of the way by slaying him,

²⁴ But [the knowledge of] their plot was made known to Saul. They were guarding the [city’s] gates day and night to kill him,

²⁵ But his disciples took him at night and let him down through the [city’s] wall, lowering him in a basket or hamper.

²⁶ And when he had arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to associate himself with the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe he really was a disciple.

²⁷ However, Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, and he explained to them how along the way he had seen the Lord, Who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached freely and confidently and courageously in the name of Jesus.

²⁸ So he went in and out [as one] among them at Jerusalem,

²⁹ Preaching freely and confidently and boldly in the name of the Lord. And he spoke and discussed with and disputed against the Hellenists (the Grecian Jews), but they were seeking to slay him.

³⁰ And when the brethren found it out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus [his home town].

³¹ So the church throughout the whole of Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was edified [growing in wisdom, virtue, and piety] and walking in the respect and reverential fear of the Lord and in the consolation and exhortation of the Holy Spirit, continued to increase and was multiplied.