Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 30[a]
Thanksgiving for Deliverance
1 A psalm. A song for the dedication of the Temple.[b] Of David.
I
2 I praise you, Lord, for you raised me up
and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.
3 O Lord, my God,
I cried out to you for help and you healed[c] me.
4 Lord, you brought my soul up from Sheol;
you let me live, from going down to the pit.[d](A)
II
5 Sing praise to the Lord, you faithful;
give thanks to his holy memory.
6 For his anger lasts but a moment;
his favor a lifetime.
At dusk weeping comes for the night;
but at dawn there is rejoicing.
III
7 Complacent,[e] I once said,
“I shall never be shaken.”
8 Lord, you showed me favor,
established for me mountains of virtue.
But when you hid your face
I was struck with terror.(B)
9 To you, Lord, I cried out;
with the Lord I pleaded for mercy:
10 [f]“What gain is there from my lifeblood,
from my going down to the grave?
Does dust give you thanks
or declare your faithfulness?
11 Hear, O Lord, have mercy on me;
Lord, be my helper.”
IV
12 You changed my mourning into dancing;
you took off my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness.(C)
13 So that my glory may praise you
and not be silent.
O Lord, my God,
forever will I give you thanks.
Chapter 14
The Wise Woman of Tekoa. 1 Now Joab, son of Zeruiah, knew how the king felt toward Absalom. 2 Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman, to whom he said: “Pretend to be in mourning. Put on mourning apparel and do not anoint yourself with oil, that you may appear to be a woman who has long been mourning someone dead. 3 Then go to the king and speak to him in this manner.” And Joab told her what to say.
4 So the woman of Tekoa went to the king and fell to the ground in homage, saying, “Help, O king!” 5 (A)The king said to her, “What do you want?” She replied: “Alas, I am a widow; my husband is dead. 6 Your servant had two sons, who quarreled in the field, with no one to part them, and one of them struck his brother and killed him. 7 Then the whole clan confronted your servant and demanded: ‘Give up the one who struck down his brother. We must put him to death for the life of his brother whom he has killed; we must do away with the heir also.’ Thus they will quench my remaining hope[a] and leave my husband neither name nor posterity upon the earth.”(B) 8 The king then said to the woman: “Go home. I will issue a command on your behalf.” 9 The woman of Tekoa answered him, “Upon me and my family be the blame, my lord king; the king and his throne are innocent.” 10 Then the king said, “If anyone says a word to you, have him brought to me, and he shall not touch you again.” 11 But she said, “Please, let the king remember the Lord your God, that the avenger of blood may not go too far in destruction and that my son may not be done away with.” He replied, “As the Lord lives, not a hair of your son shall fall to the ground.”
6 “On that journey as I drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me.(A) 7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’(B) 8 I replied, ‘Who are you, sir?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting.’(C) 9 My companions saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who spoke to me.(D) 10 I asked, ‘What shall I do, sir?’ The Lord answered me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything appointed for you to do.’(E) 11 Since I could see nothing because of the brightness of that light, I was led by hand by my companions and entered Damascus.(F)
12 (G)“A certain Ananias, a devout observer of the law, and highly spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, 13 came to me and stood there and said, ‘Saul, my brother, regain your sight.’ And at that very moment I regained my sight and saw him. 14 Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors designated you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the sound of his voice; 15 for you will be his witness[a] before all to what you have seen and heard. 16 Now, why delay? Get up and have yourself baptized and your sins washed away, calling upon his name.’
17 “After I had returned to Jerusalem and while I was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance 18 and saw the Lord saying to me, ‘Hurry, leave Jerusalem at once, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ 19 But I replied, ‘Lord, they themselves know that from synagogue to synagogue I used to imprison and beat those who believed in you.(H) 20 And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I myself stood by giving my approval and keeping guard over the cloaks of his murderers.’(I) 21 Then he said to me,(J) ‘Go, I shall send you far away to the Gentiles.’”[b]
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.