Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 6

A Prayer for Mercy

For the choir director: with stringed instruments, according to Sheminith.^(A) A Davidic psalm.

Judah’s King Uzziah

26 All the people^(A) of Judah took Uzziah,^[a] who was 16 years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. ² He rebuilt Eloth^[b](B) and restored it to Judah after Amaziah the king rested with his fathers.

³ Uzziah was 16 years old^(C) when he became king and reigned 52 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah from Jerusalem. ⁴ He did what was right in the Lord’s sight as his father Amaziah had done. ⁵ He sought God^(D) throughout the lifetime of Zechariah, the teacher of the fear^[c](E) of God. During the time that he sought the Lord, God gave him success.^(F)

Uzziah’s Exploits

⁶ Uzziah went out to wage war against the Philistines,^(G) and he tore down the wall of Gath, the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod. Then he built cities in the vicinity of Ashdod and among the Philistines. ⁷ God helped him against the Philistines, the Arabs that live in Gur-baal, and the Meunites. ⁸ The Ammonites^[d] gave Uzziah tribute money,^(H) and his fame spread as far as the entrance of Egypt, for God made him very powerful. ⁹ Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate,^(I) the Valley Gate,^(J) and the corner buttress, and he fortified them. ¹⁰ Since he had many cattle both in the Judean foothills^[e] and the plain, he built towers in the desert and dug many wells.^(K) And since he was a lover of the soil, he had farmers and vinedressers in the hills and in the fertile lands.^[f]

¹¹ Uzziah had an army equipped for combat that went out to war by division according to their assignments, as recorded by Jeiel the court secretary and Maaseiah the officer under the authority of Hananiah, one of the king’s commanders. ¹² The total number of heads of families was 2,600 brave warriors. ¹³ Under their authority was an army of 307,500 equipped for combat, a powerful force to help the king against the enemy.^{(L) 14} Uzziah provided the entire army with shields, spears, helmets, armor, bows and slingstones. ¹⁵ He made skillfully designed devices in Jerusalem to shoot arrows and catapult large stones for use on the towers and on the corners. So his fame spread even to distant places, for he was marvelously helped until he became strong.

Uzziah’s Disease

¹⁶ But when he became strong, he grew arrogant^(M) and it led to his own destruction. He acted unfaithfully against the Lord his God by going into the Lord’s sanctuary to burn incense on the incense altar.^{(N) 17} Azariah^(O) the priest, along with 80 brave priests of the Lord, went in after him. ¹⁸ They took their stand^(P) against King Uzziah and said, “Uzziah, you have no right to offer incense to the Lord^(Q)—only the consecrated priests, the descendants of Aaron, have the right to offer incense.^(R) Leave the sanctuary, for you have acted unfaithfully! You will not receive honor from the Lord God.”

¹⁹ Uzziah, with a firepan in his hand to offer incense, was enraged. But when he became enraged with the priests, in the presence of the priests in the Lord’s temple beside the altar of incense, a skin disease^(S) broke out on his forehead. ²⁰ Then Azariah the chief priest and all the priests turned to him and saw that he was diseased on his forehead. They rushed him out of there. He himself also hurried to get out because the Lord had afflicted him. ²¹ So King Uzziah was diseased to the time of his death.^(T) He lived in quarantine^[g](U) with a serious skin disease and was excluded from access to the Lord’s temple, while his son Jotham was over the king’s household governing the people of the land.

Healing of a Lame Man

3 Now Peter and John were going up together to the temple complex at the hour of prayer^(A) at three in the afternoon.^{[a] 2} And a man who was lame from birth was carried there and placed every day at the temple gate called Beautiful, so he could beg from those entering the temple complex.^{(B) 3} When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple complex, he asked for help. ⁴ Peter, along with John, looked at him intently and said, “Look at us.” ⁵ So he turned to them,^[b] expecting to get something from them. ⁶ But Peter said, “I don’t have silver or gold, but what I have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!”^{(C) 7} Then, taking him by the right hand he raised him up, and at once his feet and ankles became strong. ⁸ So he jumped up, stood, and started to walk, and he entered the temple complex with them—walking, leaping, and praising God.^{(D) 9} All the people saw him walking and praising God, ¹⁰ and they recognized that he was the one who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the temple complex. So they were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him.^(E)