Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
God the King
93 The Lord is king.
He is clothed with majesty and strength.
The earth is set firmly in place
and cannot be moved.
2 Your throne, O Lord, has been firm from the beginning,
and you existed before time began.
3 The ocean depths raise their voice, O Lord;
they raise their voice and roar.
4 The Lord rules supreme in heaven,
greater than the roar of the ocean,
more powerful than the waves of the sea.
5 Your laws are eternal, Lord,
and your Temple is holy indeed,
forever and ever.
Prophecy against the King of Tyre
28 The Lord spoke to me. 2 “Mortal man,” he said, “tell the ruler of Tyre what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to him: Puffed up with pride, you claim to be a god. You say that like a god you sit on a throne, surrounded by the seas. You may pretend to be a god, but, no, you are mortal, not divine. 3 You think you are wiser than Danel,[a] that no secret can be kept from you. 4 Your wisdom and skill made you rich with treasures of gold and silver. 5 You made clever business deals and kept on making profits. How proud you are of your wealth!
6 “Now then, this is what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying: Because you think you are as wise as a god, 7 I will bring ruthless enemies to attack you. They will destroy all the beautiful things you have acquired by skill and wisdom. 8 They will kill you and send you to a watery grave. 9 When they come to kill you, will you still claim that you are a god? When you face your murderers, you will be mortal and not at all divine. 10 You will die like a dog at the hand of godless foreigners. I, the Sovereign Lord, have given the command.”
The Stoning of Stephen
54 As the members of the Council listened to Stephen, they became furious and ground their teeth at him in anger. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw God's glory and Jesus standing at the right side of God. 56 “Look!” he said. “I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right side of God!”
57 With a loud cry the Council members covered their ears with their hands. Then they all rushed at him at once, 58 threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses left their cloaks in the care of a young man named Saul. 59 They kept on stoning Stephen as he called out to the Lord, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 He knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord! Do not remember this sin against them!” He said this and died.
8 And Saul approved of his murder.
Saul Persecutes the Church
That very day the church in Jerusalem began to suffer cruel persecution. All the believers, except the apostles, were scattered throughout the provinces of Judea and Samaria.
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.