Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
5 Lord, everything in heaven praises you
for the great things that you have done.
Yes, your angels meet together to praise you,
because you are always faithful.
6 In all the heavens,
there is no one like you, Lord!
No angel in heaven is equal to you.
7 When the angels meet together in heaven,
they respect you with fear.
All who meet round your throne in heaven respect you,
as you deserve.
8 Lord God Almighty,
no one is as powerful as you!
You are always faithful in all that you do!
9 You rule over the powerful sea.
When the waves rise up,
you make them quiet again.
10 You caught the monster Rahab
and you killed it!
With your power,
you chased away your enemies.
11 The heavens belong to you
and so does the earth.
You made the world
and everything that is in it.
12 You made everything,
from the north to the south.
Tabor and Hermon are happy to praise your name.[a]
13 You have great strength,
and you can do great things.
You hold up your right hand,
as you win against your enemies.
14 As King, you rule with justice,
and you always do what is right.
You show your faithful love and you are faithful.
15 You have truly blessed the people
who know how to praise you, Lord.
They know that you are pleased with them.
16 They praise your name all the time.
Your justice makes them happy.
17 You give strength and glory to your people.
Because you are kind to us,
we win against our enemies.
18 Yes! Our king belongs to the Lord,
and he protects us like a shield.
Our king belongs to the Holy One of Israel.
God's covenant with David
19 A long time ago, Lord,
you spoke to your servants.
In a vision, you said to them,
‘I have helped a brave soldier to be strong.
I have chosen as king
a young man from among the people.
20 I have found David, my servant.
I have poured my special oil on him,
to make him king.
21 I will help him with my power,
so that he is strong.
22 No enemy will win against him.
No cruel people will have power to hurt him.
23 I will destroy his enemies in front of him
I will kill those who hate him.
24 I will always be faithful
and show him my faithful love.
By my name he will win against his enemies.
25 I will cause his kingdom to reach
beyond the sea and the rivers.
26 The king will say to me, “You are my Father.
You are my God.
You protect me and you rescue me.”
27 Also, I will make him my firstborn son.
He will be the greatest of the kings of the earth.
28 I will always love him with my faithful love.
I will never change the covenant
that I have made with him.
29 Someone from his family will always be king.
They will rule for ever,
as long as there are skies above us.
30-31 But I will punish his descendants,
if they do not accept my laws.
If they do not obey my teaching, my rules, or my commands,
32 I will punish them.
Because of their sins,
I will give them much pain.
33 But I will not take my faithful love away from David.
I will always be faithful,
and I will do what I have promised to him.
34 I will not spoil the covenant that I have made with him.
I will always keep my promises.
35 I made that promise to David at one time,
and that will not change.
I promised him by my holy name
and I will never deceive him.
36 His descendants will always rule.
His kingdom will continue to be there for ever,
as long as the sun shines.
37 As the moon is always there in the sky,
to show that God is faithful,
David's kingdom will also continue.’
Selah.
Jacob goes back to Bethel
35 After these things had happened, God said to Jacob, ‘Go to Bethel and live there. Build an altar to worship me. I am the God who appeared to you when you were running away from Esau.’ 2 So Jacob told the people in his house and everyone who was with him, ‘Throw out all the foreign idols that you have with you. Wash your body very well and put on clean clothes. 3 Then we will go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to worship God. He is the one who answered me when I was in trouble. And he has been with me everywhere that I went.’
4 So the people gave to Jacob all their idols and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob buried these things under the oak tree near Shechem city. 5 Then they began their journey. All the towns near there were afraid of God's power. So no one attacked Jacob and his people.
6 Jacob and everyone with him arrived at Luz, now called Bethel. That is in the land of Canaan. 7 Jacob built an altar there. He called the place El Bethel, because that was where God appeared to him.[a] God had appeared to him when he was running away from his brother Esau.
8 Rebekah's nurse, Deborah, died at that time. Jacob buried her under the oak tree near Bethel. That is why they call the place Allon Bacuth.[b]
9 After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again. God blessed Jacob. 10 He said to Jacob, ‘Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob. Instead, your name will be Israel.’ So God gave the name Israel to Jacob.[c]
11 Then God said to him, ‘I am Almighty God. Give birth to many children so that your descendants become very many. They will become many nations and some of them will be kings. 12 I give to you the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac. Yes, I will give this land to your descendants that come after you.’[d]
13 Then God went away from the place where he spoke to Jacob. 14 Jacob set up a special stone on the ground. It showed the place where God had spoken to him. He poured a drink offering on the stone. He also poured olive oil on it. 15 In that way, Jacob called the place where God spoke to him Bethel.
Gentiles receive the Holy Spirit
44 While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit came down on all the people who were listening to his message. 45 The Jewish believers who had come from Joppa with Peter were very surprised. They saw that God had now freely given his Holy Spirit to Gentiles. 46 They heard the new believers speaking in strange languages. They were also praising God.
Then Peter said, 47 ‘God has clearly given his Holy Spirit to these people, in the same way that he gave him to us. So we should now baptize them with water. You surely agree that this is the right thing to do.’ 48 So Peter told the Jewish believers to baptize the new believers. They spoke the name of Jesus Christ when they baptized them. After that, Cornelius asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.
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