Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
148 Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord from the heavens.
Praise him in the heights above.
2 Praise him, all his angels.
Praise him, his entire heavenly army.
3 Praise him, sun and moon.
Praise him, all shining stars.
4 Praise him, you highest heaven
and the water above the sky.
5 Let them praise the name of the Lord
because they were created by his command.
6 He set them in their places forever and ever.
He made it a law that no one can break.
7 Praise the Lord from the earth.
Praise him, large sea creatures and all the ocean depths,
8 lightning and hail,
snow and fog,
strong winds that obey his commands,
9 mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedar trees,
10 wild animals and all domestic animals,
crawling animals and birds,
11 kings of the earth and all its people,
officials and all judges on the earth,
12 young men and women,
old and young together.
13 Let them praise the name of the Lord
because his name is high above all others.
His glory is above heaven and earth.
14 He has given his people a strong leader,[a]
someone praiseworthy for his faithful ones,
for the people of Israel, the people who are close to him.
Hallelujah!
Jeremiah Is Arrested
26 The Lord spoke his word when Judah’s King Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, began to rule. He said, 2 “This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple, and speak to all the people who come from the cities of Judah to worship in the Lord’s temple. Tell them everything that I command you to tell them. Don’t leave out a single word. 3 Maybe they’ll listen, and they’ll turn from their evil ways. Then I’ll change my plan about the disaster I intend to bring on them because of the evil they have done.”
4 The Lord added, “Also say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: Suppose you don’t listen to me and don’t follow my teachings that I set in front of you. 5 Suppose you don’t listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent to you again and again, even though you didn’t listen. 6 Then I will do to this temple what I did to Shiloh. I will turn this city into something that will be cursed by all the nations on earth.’ ”
7 The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these things in the Lord’s temple. 8 But as soon as Jeremiah finished saying everything that the Lord had commanded him to say, the priests, the prophets, and all the people grabbed him and said, “You must die! 9 Why do you prophesy in the Lord’s name that this temple will be like Shiloh and this city will become a pile of rubble with no one living here?” Then all the people crowded around Jeremiah in the Lord’s temple.
12 Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people, “The Lord sent me to prophesy everything that you have heard me say against this temple and against this city. 13 Now, change your ways and what you are doing, and listen to the Lord your God. Then the Lord will change his plan about the disaster that he intends to bring on you.
14 “My life is in your hands. Do with me whatever you think is good and right. 15 But know for certain that if you put me to death, you, this city, and the people living in it will be guilty of killing an innocent person. The Lord has certainly sent me to speak all these things to you.”
Stephen Is Arrested
8 Stephen was a man filled with God’s favor [a] and power. He did amazing things and performed miracles. 9 ⌞One day⌟ some men from the cities of Cyrene and Alexandria and the provinces of Cilicia and Asia started an argument with Stephen. They belonged to a synagogue called Freedmen’s Synagogue. 10 They couldn’t argue with Stephen because he spoke with the wisdom that the Spirit had given him. 11 Then they bribed some men to lie.
These men said, “We heard him slander Moses and God.” 12 The liars stirred up trouble among the people, the leaders, and the experts in Moses’ Teachings. So they went to Stephen, took him by force, and brought him in front of the Jewish council. 13 Some witnesses stood up and lied about Stephen. They said, “This man never stops saying bad things about the holy place and Moses’ Teachings. 14 We heard him say that Jesus from Nazareth will destroy the temple and change the customs that Moses gave us.”
15 Everyone who sat in the council stared at him and saw that his face looked like an angel’s face.
51 “How stubborn can you be? How can you be so heartless and disobedient? You’re just like your ancestors. They always opposed the Holy Spirit, and so do you! 52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute? They killed those who predicted that a man with God’s approval would come. You have now become the people who betrayed and murdered that man. 53 You are the people who received Moses’ Teachings, which were put into effect by angels. But you haven’t obeyed those teachings.”
Stephen Is Executed
54 As council members listened to Stephen, they became noticeably furious. 55 But Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. He looked into heaven, saw God’s glory, and Jesus in the honored position—the one next to God the Father on the heavenly throne. 56 So Stephen said, “Look, I see heaven opened and the Son of Man in the honored position—the one next to God the Father on the throne!”
57 But the council members shouted and refused to listen. Then they rushed at Stephen with one purpose in mind, 58 and after they had thrown him out of the city, they began to stone him to death. The witnesses left their coats with a young man named Saul.
59 While council members were executing Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, welcome my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and shouted, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them.” After he had said this, he died.
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