Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Joy Comes in the Morning
Psalm 30
1 A psalm, a song for the dedication of the Temple, of David.
2 I will exalt You, Adonai,
for You have lifted me up,
and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
3 Adonai my God, I cried to You for help,
and You healed me.
4 Adonai, You brought my soul up from Sheol.
You kept me alive, so I would not go down to the Pit.
5 Sing praise to Adonai, His faithful ones,
and praise His holy name.
6 For His anger lasts for only a moment,
His favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may stay for the night,
but joy comes in the morning.
7 When I felt secure, I said:
“I will never be shaken.”
8 Adonai, in Your favor
You made my mountain stand strong.
When You hid Your face,
I was terrified.
9 To You, Adonai, I called,
and to my Lord I made my plea:
10 “What gain is there in my blood,
in my going down to the Pit?
Will the dust praise You?
Will it declare Your truth?
11 Hear, Adonai, and be gracious to me.
Adonai, be my help.”
12 You turned my mourning into dancing.
You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.
13 So my glory will sing to You and not be silent.
Adonai my God, I will praise You forever.
12 Then the woman said, “Please, let your handmaid speak a word to my lord the king.”
“Say on,” he said.
13 The woman said, “Why have you devised a situation just like this against God’s people? For by speaking this word, the king is like the guilty one—by not bringing back the one he banished. 14 For we will all surely die and be like water spilt on the ground that cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away life but rather, He devises plans so that a banished person may not remain an outcast from Him. 15 Now the reason I came to speak this word to my lord the king is because the people have made me afraid. So your handmaid thought, ‘I must speak to the king—perhaps the king will fulfill the request of his maidservant. 16 Surely the king will hear, to deliver his maidservant from the hand of the one who would eliminate both me and my son together out of the inheritance of God.’ 17 Then your handmaid also thought, ‘Please let the word of my lord the king bring relief. For like an angel of God so is my lord the king to discern good and evil.’ So may Adonai your God be with you.”
18 Then the king answered and said to the woman, “Please do not hide anything from me concerning what I am about to ask you.”
“Please let my lord the king speak,” the woman said.
19 Then the king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?”
“As your soul lives, my lord the king,” the woman answered, “no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken. Yes, your servant Joab was the one who commanded me and put all these words in the mouth of your handmaid. 20 Your servant Joab did this thing in order to bring about a change in the situation. But my lord is wise—like the wisdom of an angel of God—to know all that goes on in the land.”
21 Then the king said to Joab, “Behold now, I will do this thing. So go, bring the young man Absalom back.” 22 Joab fell on his face to the ground, prostrated himself and blessed the king. Then Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, since the king has done the word of your servant.” 23 So Joab got up, went to Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.
24 However, the king said, “He may go directly to his own house, but he may not see my face.” So Absalom went directly to his own house and did not see the king’s face.
Defense Before King Agrippa
26 Agrippa said to Paul, “It is permitted for you to speak for yourself.”
Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense. 2 “Concerning all I am accused of by the Judean leaders, I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that it is before you that I am about to make my defense today— 3 since you are especially knowledgeable about all Jewish customs and issues. Therefore I beg you to listen patiently to me.
4 “Now all the Jewish people have known my manner of life ever since my youth, starting from the beginning in my own nation and also in Jerusalem. 5 They have known about me for a long time—if they were willing to testify—that according to the strictest sect of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee.
6 “Yet now I stand here being judged for the hope in the promise made by God to our fathers. 7 It is the promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jewish people, O King! 8 Why is it judged incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?
9 “In fact, I myself thought it was necessary to do many things in opposition to the name of Yeshua ha-Natzrati. 10 And that is what I did in Jerusalem. Not only did I lock up many of the kedoshim in prisons by the authority I received from the ruling kohanim, but I cast my vote against them when they were being condemned to death. 11 I tried to cause them to blaspheme by punishing them often in the synagogues. In furious rage against them, I persecuted them even in foreign cities.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.