Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Evening Prayer for Help[a]
4 Answer me when I pray,
O God, my defender!
When I was in trouble, you helped me.
Be kind to me now and hear my prayer.
2 How long will you people insult me?
How long will you love what is worthless
and go after what is false?
3 Remember that the Lord has chosen the righteous for his own,
and he hears me when I call to him.
4 (A)Tremble with fear and stop sinning;
think deeply about this,
when you lie in silence on your beds.
5 Offer the right sacrifices to the Lord,
and put your trust in him.
6 There are many who pray:
“Give us more blessings, O Lord.
Look on us with kindness!”
7 But the joy that you have given me
is more than they will ever have
with all their grain and wine.
8 When I lie down, I go to sleep in peace;
you alone, O Lord, keep me perfectly safe.
A Lame Beggar Is Healed
3 One day Peter and John went to the Temple at three o'clock in the afternoon, the hour for prayer. 2 There at the Beautiful Gate, as it was called, was a man who had been lame all his life. Every day he was carried to the gate to beg for money from the people who were going into the Temple. 3 When he saw Peter and John going in, he begged them to give him something. 4 They looked straight at him, and Peter said, “Look at us!” 5 So he looked at them, expecting to get something from them. 6 But Peter said to him, “I have no money at all, but I give you what I have: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth I order you to get up and walk!” 7 Then he took him by his right hand and helped him up. At once the man's feet and ankles became strong; 8 he jumped up, stood on his feet, and started walking around. Then he went into the Temple with them, walking and jumping and praising God. 9 The people there saw him walking and praising God, 10 and when they recognized him as the beggar who had sat at the Beautiful Gate, they were all surprised and amazed at what had happened to him.
The Argument about Greatness
24 (A)An argument broke out among the disciples as to which one of them should be thought of as the greatest. 25 Jesus said to them, “The kings of the pagans have power over their people, and the rulers claim the title ‘Friends of the People.’ 26 (B)But this is not the way it is with you; rather, the greatest one among you must be like the youngest, and the leader must be like the servant. 27 (C)Who is greater, the one who sits down to eat or the one who serves? The one who sits down, of course. But I am among you as one who serves.
28 “You have stayed with me all through my trials; 29 and just as my Father has given me the right to rule, so I will give you the same right. 30 (D)You will eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom, and you will sit on thrones to rule over the twelve tribes of Israel.
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.