Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 30
A Psalm of David. A Song at the dedication of the temple.
1 I will extol You, O Lord, for You have drawn me up,
and have not caused my foes to rejoice over me.
2 O Lord my God, I cried to You,
and You healed me.
3 O Lord, You have brought up my soul from the grave;
You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
4 Sing to the Lord, O you saints of His,
and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness.
5 For His anger endures but a moment,
in His favor is life;
weeping may endure for a night,
but joy comes in the morning.
6 In my prosperity I said,
“I will never be moved.”
7 Lord, by Your favor
You had set me strong as a mountain;
You hid Your face,
and I was terrified.
8 I cried to You, O Lord,
and to the Lord I made supplication:
9 “What profit is there in my death,
if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust give You thanks?
Will it declare Your truth?
10 Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me;
Lord, be my helper.”
11 For You have turned my mourning into dancing;
You have put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,
12 so that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.
Absalom Returns to Jerusalem
14 Now Joab the son of Zeruiah recognized that the king’s mind was on Absalom. 2 So Joab sent a request to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He instructed her, “Act as if you are observing mourning rites. Put on mourning garments, and do not anoint yourself with oil, but act like a woman who has been mourning over the dead like this for many days. 3 Then come to the king and speak to him in this manner.” Thus Joab put the words in her mouth.
4 As the Tekoan woman spoke to the king, she fell on her face toward the ground and bowed low. Then she said, “Help me, O king.”
5 The king said to her, “What troubles you?”
She responded, “Alas, I am a widow, and my husband is dead. 6 Furthermore, your servant had two sons. The two of them were fighting in the field, but there was no one to separate them. One struck the other and killed him. 7 Now the entire family has risen up against your maidservant, and they said, ‘Deliver him who struck his brother, so that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he killed, and we will destroy the heir also.’ So they will extinguish my remaining ember, and leave my husband neither name nor remnant on the face of the earth.”
8 Then the king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give orders concerning you.”
9 The Tekoan woman responded to the king, “May guilt rest upon me and the house of my father, my lord the king, and may the king and his throne be blameless.”
10 The king said, “Whoever speaks to you, bring him to me, and he will not cause you harm again.”
11 Then she said, “May the king remember the Lord your God so that the avenger of blood will not continue to destroy, lest they exterminate my son.”
He said, “As the Lord lives, not one hair of your son will fall to the ground.”
Paul Tells of His Conversion(A)
6 “As I journeyed and came near Damascus, about noon suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me. 7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?’
8 “I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’
“He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’ 9 Those who were with me saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of Him who was speaking to me.
10 “I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’
“The Lord said to me, ‘Rise and go into Damascus. There you will be told what you have been appointed to do.’ 11 Since I was blinded by the glory of that light, those who were with me led me by the hand into Damascus.
12 “Ananias, a devout man according to the law, who was well spoken of by all the Jews living there, 13 came and stood by me, and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And at that moment I looked up at him.
14 “Then he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Just One and to hear His voice, 15 for you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now why do you wait? Rise, be baptized and wash away your sins, and call on the name of the Lord.’
Paul Sent to the Gentiles
17 “When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance 18 and saw Him saying to me, ‘Hurry! Get out of Jerusalem immediately, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.’
19 “I said, ‘Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat those who believed in You in every synagogue. 20 And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I was standing by consenting to his death, guarding the clothes of those who killed him.’
21 “Then He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.