Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁷ The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the [whole] person; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

⁸ The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure and bright, enlightening the eyes.

⁹ The [reverent] fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

¹⁰ More to be desired are they than gold, even than much fine gold; they are sweeter also than honey and drippings from the honeycomb.

¹¹ Moreover, by them is Your servant warned (reminded, illuminated, and instructed); and in keeping them there is great reward.

¹² Who can discern his lapses and errors? Clear me from hidden [and unconscious] faults.

¹³ Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then shall I be blameless, and I shall be innocent and clear of great transgression.

¹⁴ Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my [firm, impenetrable] Rock and my Redeemer.

¹³ Next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening.

¹⁴ When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, What is this that you do for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?

¹⁵ Moses said to his father-in-law, Because the people come to me to inquire of God.

¹⁶ When they have a dispute they come to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of God and His laws.

¹⁷ Moses’ father-in-law said to him, The thing that you are doing is not good.

¹⁸ You will surely wear out both yourself and this people with you, for the thing is too heavy for you; you are not able to perform it all by yourself.

¹⁹ Listen now to [me]; I will counsel you, and God will be with you. You shall represent the people before God, bringing their cases and causes to Him,

²⁰ Teaching them the decrees and laws, showing them the way they must walk and the work they must do.

²¹ Moreover, you shall choose able men from all the people—God-fearing men of truth who hate unjust gain—and place them over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, to be their rulers.

²² And let them judge the people at all times; every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they shall judge. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.

²³ If you will do this, and God so commands you, you will be able to endure [the strain], and all these people also will go to their [tents] in peace.

²⁴ So Moses listened to and heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.

²⁵ Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.

²⁶ And they judged the people at all times; the hard cases they brought to Moses, but every small matter they decided themselves.

²⁷ Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went his way into his own land.

¹³ Now when they saw the boldness and unfettered eloquence of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and untrained in the schools [common men with no educational advantages], they marveled; and they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

¹⁴ And since they saw the man who had been cured standing there beside them, they could not contradict the fact or say anything in opposition.

¹⁵ But having ordered [the prisoners] to go aside out of the council [chamber], they conferred (debated) among themselves,

¹⁶ Saying, What are we to do with these men? For that an extraordinary miracle has been performed by (through) them is plain to all the residents of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.

¹⁷ But in order that it may not spread further among the people and the nation, let us warn and forbid them with a stern threat to speak any more to anyone in this name [or about this Person].

¹⁸ [So] they summoned them and imperatively instructed them not to converse in any way or teach at all in or about the name of Jesus.

¹⁹ But Peter and John replied to them, Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you and obey you rather than God, you must decide (judge).

²⁰ But we [ourselves] cannot help telling what we have seen and heard.

²¹ Then when [the rulers and council members] had further threatened them, they let them go, not seeing how they could secure a conviction against them because of the people; for everybody was praising and glorifying God for what had occurred.

²² For the man on whom this sign (miracle) of healing was performed was more than forty years old.

²³ After they were permitted to go, [the apostles] returned to their own [company] and told all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.

²⁴ And when they heard it, lifted their voices together with one united mind to God and said, O Sovereign Lord, You are He Who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything that is in them,^(A)

²⁵ Who by the mouth of our forefather David, Your servant and child, said through the Holy Spirit, Why did the heathen (Gentiles) become wanton and insolent and rage, and the people imagine and study and plan vain (fruitless) things [that will not succeed]?

²⁶ The kings of the earth took their stand in array [for attack] and the rulers were assembled and combined together against the Lord and against His Anointed (Christ, the Messiah).^(B)

²⁷ For in this city there actually met and plotted together against Your holy Child and Servant Jesus, Whom You consecrated by anointing, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and peoples of Israel,^(C)

²⁸ To carry out all that Your hand and Your will and purpose had predestined (predetermined) should occur.

²⁹ And now, Lord, observe their threats and grant to Your bond servants [full freedom] to declare Your message fearlessly,

³⁰ While You stretch out Your hand to cure and to perform signs and wonders through the authority and by the power of the name of Your holy Child and Servant Jesus.

³¹ And when they had prayed, the place in which they were assembled was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they continued to speak the Word of God with freedom and boldness and courage.