Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 23
The King of Love My Shepherd Is
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A psalm by David.
The Shepherd Provides for His People
1 The Lord is my shepherd.
I lack nothing.
2 He causes me to lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside quiet waters.
3 He restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
The Shepherd Protects His People
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
The Royal Host Provides for His People
17 Pick up your pack from the ground,
you who live under siege.
18 For this is what the Lord says.
Watch, I am going to throw out those who live in the land at this time.
I am going to bring them distress that they will feel.
Jeremiah’s Lament
19 Woe to me because of my wound!
My injury is severe!
But I said, “Yes, this is my suffering,
and I must bear it.”
20 My tent is destroyed.
All its ropes are broken.
My children are gone, and they are no more.
No one is left to pitch my tent
or to set up my dwelling.
21 The shepherds have become as senseless as animals.
They do not seek the Lord.
That is why they do not prosper
and all their flock is scattered.
22 Listen! I hear noise—
a great commotion from a land in the north.
It will make the cities of Judah desolate.
It will make them a haunt for jackals.
Jeremiah’s Prayer
23 I know, Lord, that a man’s way is not his own,
nor can a man direct his own steps.
24 Correct me, Lord, but with justice,
not in your anger,
or you will reduce me to nothing.
25 Pour out your wrath on the nations who do not acknowledge you,
on the peoples who do not call on your name,
for they have devoured Jacob.
They have devoured him completely
and made his homeland desolate.
In Athens
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was very distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he led a discussion in the synagogue with the Jews and those who feared God, as well as with those who happened to be in the marketplace every day.
18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also debated with him. Some said, “What is this seed picker[a] trying to say?” Others said, “He seems to be someone who is proclaiming foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
19 They took him and brought him to the council of the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are talking about? 20 You seem to be bringing in some ideas that are strange to our ears, so we want to know what these things mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there enjoyed doing nothing more than telling or listening to something new.)
22 Then Paul stood up in front of the council of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in every way. 23 For as I was walking around and carefully observing your objects of worship, I even found an altar on which had been inscribed, ‘To an unknown god.’ Now what you worship as unknown—this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made with hands. 25 Neither is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, since he himself gives all people life and breath and everything they have. 26 From one man,[b] he made every nation of mankind to live over the entire face of the earth. He determined the appointed times and the boundaries where they would live. 27 He did this so they would seek God[c] and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’[d] As some of your own poets have said, ‘Indeed, we are also his offspring.’[e]
29 “Therefore, since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and planning. 30 Although God overlooked the times of ignorance, he is now commanding all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he appointed. He provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.