Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost

2 When the day of Pentecost came, all the believers gathered in one place. ² Suddenly a sound came from heaven. It was like a strong wind blowing. It filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw something that looked like fire in the shape of tongues. The flames separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit. They began to speak in languages they had not known before. The Spirit gave them the ability to do this.

⁵ Godly Jews from every country in the world were staying in Jerusalem. ⁶ A crowd came together when they heard the sound. They were bewildered because each of them heard their own language being spoken. ⁷ The crowd was really amazed. They asked, “Aren’t all these people who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ Then why do we each hear them speaking in our own native language? ⁹ We are Parthians, Medes and Elamites. We live in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia. We are from Pontus, Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia. Others of us are from Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene. Still others are visitors from Rome. ¹¹ Some of the visitors are Jews. Others have accepted the Jewish faith. Also, Cretans and Arabs are here. We hear all these people speaking about God’s wonders in our own languages!” ¹² They were amazed and bewildered. They asked one another, “What does this mean?”

¹³ But some people in the crowd made fun of the believers. “They’ve had too much wine!” they said.

Peter Speaks to the Crowd

¹⁴ Then Peter stood up with the 11 apostles. In a loud voice he spoke to the crowd. “My fellow Jews,” he said, “let me explain this to you. All of you who live in Jerusalem, listen carefully to what I say. ¹⁵ You think these people are drunk. But they aren’t. It’s only nine o’clock in the morning! ¹⁶ No, here is what the prophet Joel meant. ¹⁷ He said,

The Valley of Dry Bones

37 The power of the Lord came on me. His Spirit brought me away from my home. He put me down in the middle of a valley. It was full of bones. ² He led me back and forth among them. I saw a huge number of bones in the valley. The bones were very dry. ³ The Lord asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Lord and King, you are the only one who knows.”

⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones. Tell them, ‘Dry bones, listen to the Lord’s message. ⁵ The Lord and King speaks to you. He says, “I will put breath in you. Then you will come to life again. ⁶ I will attach tendons to you. I will put flesh on you. I will cover you with skin. So I will put breath in you. And you will come to life again. Then you will know that I am the Lord.” ’ ”

⁷ So I prophesied just as the Lord commanded me to. As I was prophesying, I heard a noise. It was a rattling sound. The bones came together. One bone connected itself to another. ⁸ I saw tendons and flesh appear on them. Skin covered them. But there was no breath in them.

⁹ Then the Lord said to me, “Prophesy to the breath. Prophesy, son of man. Tell it, ‘The Lord and King says, “Breath, come from all four directions. Go into these people who have been killed. Then they can live.” ’ ” ¹⁰ So I prophesied just as he commanded me to. And breath entered them. Then they came to life again. They stood up on their feet. They were like a huge army.

¹¹ Then the Lord said to me, “Son of man, these bones stand for all the people of Israel. The people say, ‘Our bones are dried up. We’ve lost all hope. We are destroyed.’ ¹² So prophesy. Tell them, ‘The Lord and King says, “My people, I am going to open up your graves. I am going to bring you out of them. I will take you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ So I will open up your graves and bring you out of them. Then you will know that I am the Lord. You are my people. ¹⁴ I will put my Spirit in you. And you will live again. I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I have spoken. I have done it,” announces the Lord.’ ”

²² We know that all that God created has been groaning. It is in pain as if it were giving birth to a child. The created world continues to groan even now. ²³ And that’s not all. We have the Holy Spirit as the promise of future blessing. But we also groan inside ourselves. We do this as we look forward to the time when God adopts us as full members of his family. Then he will give us everything he has for us. He will raise our bodies and give glory to them. ²⁴ That’s the hope we had when we were saved. But hope that can be seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ We hope for what we don’t have yet. So we are patient as we wait for it.

²⁶ In the same way, the Holy Spirit helps us when we are weak. We don’t know what we should pray for. But the Spirit himself prays for us. He prays through groans too deep for words. ²⁷ God, who looks into our hearts, knows the mind of the Spirit. And the Spirit prays for God’s people just as God wants him to pray.

The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost

2 When the day of Pentecost came, all the believers gathered in one place. ² Suddenly a sound came from heaven. It was like a strong wind blowing. It filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw something that looked like fire in the shape of tongues. The flames separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit. They began to speak in languages they had not known before. The Spirit gave them the ability to do this.

⁵ Godly Jews from every country in the world were staying in Jerusalem. ⁶ A crowd came together when they heard the sound. They were bewildered because each of them heard their own language being spoken. ⁷ The crowd was really amazed. They asked, “Aren’t all these people who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ Then why do we each hear them speaking in our own native language? ⁹ We are Parthians, Medes and Elamites. We live in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia. We are from Pontus, Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia. Others of us are from Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene. Still others are visitors from Rome. ¹¹ Some of the visitors are Jews. Others have accepted the Jewish faith. Also, Cretans and Arabs are here. We hear all these people speaking about God’s wonders in our own languages!” ¹² They were amazed and bewildered. They asked one another, “What does this mean?”

¹³ But some people in the crowd made fun of the believers. “They’ve had too much wine!” they said.

Peter Speaks to the Crowd

¹⁴ Then Peter stood up with the 11 apostles. In a loud voice he spoke to the crowd. “My fellow Jews,” he said, “let me explain this to you. All of you who live in Jerusalem, listen carefully to what I say. ¹⁵ You think these people are drunk. But they aren’t. It’s only nine o’clock in the morning! ¹⁶ No, here is what the prophet Joel meant. ¹⁷ He said,

The Work of the Holy Spirit

²⁶ “I will send the Friend to you from the Father. He is the Spirit of truth, who comes out from the Father. When the Friend comes to help you, he will be a witness about me. ²⁷ You must also be witnesses about me. That’s because you have been with me from the beginning.

⁴ Why have I told you this? So that when their time comes, you will remember that I warned you about them. I didn’t tell you this from the beginning because I was with you. ⁵ But now I am going to the one who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶ Instead, you are filled with sadness because I have said these things. ⁷ But what I’m about to tell you is true. It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Friend will not come to help you. But if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ When he comes, he will prove that the world’s people are guilty. He will prove their guilt concerning sin and godliness and judgment. ⁹ The world is guilty as far as sin is concerned. That’s because people do not believe in me. ¹⁰ The world is guilty as far as godliness is concerned. That’s because I am going to the Father, where you can’t see me anymore. ¹¹ The world is guilty as far as judgment is concerned. That’s because the devil, the prince of this world, has already been judged.

¹² “I have much more to say to you. It is more than you can handle right now. ¹³ But when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own. He will speak only what he hears. And he will tell you what is still going to happen. ¹⁴ He will bring me glory. That’s because what he receives from me he will show to you. ¹⁵ Everything that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said what the Holy Spirit receives from me he will show to you.”