Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 142
When My Spirit Grows Faint
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A maskil[a] by David. When he was in the cave.[b] A prayer.
A Prayer for the Weary
1 With my voice I cry out to the Lord.
With my voice I call to the Lord for mercy.
2 I pour out my complaint before him.
I tell my distress before him.
3 When my spirit grows faint within me,
you are the one who knows my course.
On the path where I walk they have hidden a snare for me.
4 Look to my right and see.
There is no one who recognizes me.
There is no escape for me.
No one cares about my life.
5 I cry out to you, Lord.
I say, “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.”
6 Pay attention to my loud cry,
because I am very weak.
Rescue me from those who pursue me,
because they are too strong for me.
7 Set me free from my prison,
so I can give thanks to your name.
Then the righteous will gather around me,
because you have accomplished your purpose for me.
Mourning for Fallen Israel
5 Listen to this word that I am raising against you as a lament,[a] O house of Israel:
2 Virgin Israel has fallen, and she will not rise again.
She is abandoned on her own soil.
There is no one to lift her up.
3 For this is what the Lord God says:
A city that marches out with a thousand will have a hundred left.
A city that marches out with a hundred will have ten left for the house of Israel.
Seek the Lord and Live!
4 Listen, this is what the Lord says to the house of Israel:
Seek me and live!
5 But do not seek Bethel.
Do not go to Gilgal.
Do not travel to Beersheba,
because Gilgal surely will go into exile,
and Bethel will become nothing.
6 Seek the Lord and live,
or he will rush upon the house of Joseph like fire.
The fire will consume, and no one will extinguish it for Bethel.
7 There are some who turn justice into wormwood,[b]
who throw righteousness to the ground.
8 There is one who made the Pleiades and Orion,
who turns the shadow of death into morning,
who darkens day into night,
who summons the waters of the seas,
who pours them out upon the face of the earth—
the Lord is his name.
9 He causes destruction to flash against a stronghold,
and destruction comes upon a fortress.
Paul Is Arrested
27 When the seven days were almost over, Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul in the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28 shouting, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law, and against this place. And now he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” 29 (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.)
30 The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together as a mob. They seized Paul, dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. 31 While they were looking for a way to kill him, a report went up to the commander of the cohort[a] that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 He immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. When they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
33 Then the commander approached Paul, arrested him, and gave an order that he should be bound with two chains. He asked who Paul was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd were shouting one thing and some another. Since the commander could not find out the truth because of the uproar, he ordered his men to take Paul away to the barracks. 35 When he came to the steps, Paul had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob. 36 The large number of people that was following kept shouting, “Away with him!”
Paul Makes His Defense
37 As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he asked the commander, “May I say something to you?”
He replied, “Do you know Greek? 38 Are you not the Egyptian who started a revolt some time ago and led four thousand men of the Assassins[b] into the wilderness?”
39 Paul said, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city. I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.