Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The Lord Our Protector
121 I look to the mountains;
where will my help come from?
2 My help will come from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let you fall;
your protector is always awake.
4 The protector of Israel
never dozes or sleeps.
5 The Lord will guard you;
he is by your side to protect you.
6 The sun will not hurt you during the day,
nor the moon during the night.
7 The Lord will protect you from all danger;
he will keep you safe.
8 He will protect you as you come and go
now and forever.
26 (A)Above the dome there was something that looked like a throne made of sapphire, and sitting on the throne was a figure that looked like a human being. 27 (B)The figure seemed to be shining like bronze in the middle of a fire. It shone all over with a bright light 28 that had in it all the colors of the rainbow. This was the dazzling light which shows the presence of the Lord.
God Calls Ezekiel to Be a Prophet
When I saw this, I fell face downward on the ground. Then I heard a voice
2 saying, “Mortal man, stand up. I want to talk to you.”
Paul Defends Himself before Agrippa
26 Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak on your own behalf.” Paul stretched out his hand and defended himself as follows:
2 “King Agrippa! I consider myself fortunate that today I am to defend myself before you from all the things these Jews accuse me of, 3 particularly since you know so well all the Jewish customs and disputes. I ask you, then, to listen to me with patience.
4 “All the Jews know how I have lived ever since I was young. They know how I have spent my whole life, at first in my own country and then in Jerusalem. 5 (A)They have always known, if they are willing to testify, that from the very first I have lived as a member of the strictest party of our religion, the Pharisees. 6 And now I stand here to be tried because of the hope I have in the promise that God made to our ancestors— 7 the very thing that the twelve tribes of our people hope to receive, as they worship God day and night. And it is because of this hope, Your Majesty, that I am being accused by these Jews! 8 (B)Why do you who are here find it impossible to believe that God raises the dead?
9 (C)“I myself thought that I should do everything I could against the cause of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 That is what I did in Jerusalem. I received authority from the chief priests and put many of God's people in prison; and when they were sentenced to death, I also voted against them. 11 Many times I had them punished in the synagogues and tried to make them deny their faith. I was so furious with them that I even went to foreign cities to persecute them.
Paul Tells of His Conversion(D)
12 “It was for this purpose that I went to Damascus with authority and orders from the chief priests. 13 It was on the road at midday, Your Majesty, that I saw a light much brighter than the sun, coming from the sky and shining around me and the men traveling with me. 14 All of us fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew, ‘Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting me? You are hurting yourself by hitting back, like an ox kicking against its owner's stick.’ 15 ‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked. And the Lord answered, ‘I am Jesus, whom you persecute. 16 But get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant. You are to tell others what you have seen of me[a] today and what I will show you in the future. 17 I will rescue you from the people of Israel and from the Gentiles to whom I will send you. 18 You are to open their eyes and turn them from the darkness to the light and from the power of Satan to God, so that through their faith in me they will have their sins forgiven and receive their place among God's chosen people.’
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.