Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
12 How blessed[a] is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom he has chosen to be his special possession.[b]
13 The Lord watches[c] from heaven;
he sees all people.[d]
14 From the place where he lives he looks carefully
at all the earth’s inhabitants.
15 He is the one who forms every human heart,[e]
and takes note of all their actions.
16 No king is delivered by his vast army;
a warrior is not saved by his great might.
17 A horse disappoints those who trust in it for victory;[f]
despite its great strength, it cannot deliver.
18 Look, the Lord takes notice of his loyal followers,[g]
those who wait for him to demonstrate his faithfulness[h]
19 by saving their lives from death[i]
and sustaining them during times of famine.[j]
20 We[k] wait for the Lord;
he is our deliverer[l] and shield.[m]
21 For our hearts rejoice in him,
for we trust in his holy name.
22 May we experience your faithfulness, O Lord,[n]
for[o] we wait for you.
Not Everyone Enjoys Life
6 Here is[a] another misfortune[b] that I have seen on earth,[c]
and it weighs heavily[d] on people:[e]
2 God gives a man riches, property, and wealth
so that he lacks nothing that his heart[f] desires,[g]
yet God does not enable[h] him to enjoy[i] the fruit of his labor[j]—
instead, someone else[k] enjoys[l] it![m]
This is fruitless and a grave misfortune.[n]
3 Even if a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years,
even if he lives a long, long time,[o] but cannot enjoy his prosperity—
even if he were to live forever[p]—
I would say, “A stillborn child[q] is better off than he is.”[r]
4 Though the stillborn child[s] came into the world[t] for no reason[u] and departed into darkness,
though its name is shrouded in darkness,[v]
5 though it never saw the light of day[w] nor knew anything,[x]
yet it has more rest[y] than that man—
6 if he should live a thousand years twice, yet does not enjoy his prosperity.
For both of them die![z]
Stephen’s Defense Before the Council
7 Then the high priest said, “Are these things true?”[a] 2 So he replied,[b] “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our forefather[c] Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your country and from your relatives, and come to the land I will show you.’[d] 4 Then he went out from the country of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God[e] made him move[f] to this country where you now live. 5 He[g] did not give any of it to him for an inheritance,[h] not even a foot of ground,[i] yet God[j] promised to give it to him as his possession, and to his descendants after him,[k] even though Abraham[l] as yet had no child. 6 But God spoke as follows: ‘Your[m] descendants will be foreigners[n] in a foreign country, whose citizens will enslave them and mistreat them for 400 years.[o] 7 But I will punish[p] the nation they serve as slaves,’ said God, ‘and after these things they will come out of there[q] and worship[r] me in this place.’[s] 8 Then God[t] gave Abraham[u] the covenant[v] of circumcision, and so he became the father of Isaac and circumcised him when he was eight days old,[w] and Isaac became the father of[x] Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.[y]
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