Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 138

[A Psalm] of David.

¹ I will confess and praise You [O God] with my whole heart; before the gods will I sing praises to You.

² I will worship toward Your holy temple and praise Your name for Your loving-kindness and for Your truth and faithfulness; for You have exalted above all else Your name and Your word and You have magnified Your word above all Your name!

³ In the day when I called, You answered me; and You strengthened me with strength (might and inflexibility to temptation) in my inner self.

⁴ All the kings of the land shall give You credit and praise You, O Lord, for they have heard of the promises of Your mouth [which were fulfilled].

⁵ Yes, they shall sing of the ways of the Lord and joyfully celebrate His mighty acts, for great is the glory of the Lord.

⁶ For though the Lord is high, yet has He respect to the lowly [bringing them into fellowship with Him]; but the proud and haughty He knows and recognizes [only] at a distance.^(A)

⁷ Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and Your right hand will save me.^(B)

⁸ The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, endure forever—forsake not the works of Your own hands.^(C)

¹² And the Lord said to Moses, Go up into this mountain of Abarim and behold the land I have given to the Israelites.

¹³ And when you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your [departed] people as Aaron your brother was gathered,

¹⁴ For you disobeyed My order in the Wilderness of Zin during the strife of the congregation to uphold My sanctity [by strict obedience to My authority] at the waters before their eyes. [These are the waters of Meribah in Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin].^(A)

¹⁵ And Moses said to the Lord,

¹⁶ Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation

¹⁷ Who shall go out and come in before them, leading them out and bringing them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep which have no shepherd.

¹⁸ The Lord said to Moses, Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand upon him;

¹⁹ And set him before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation and give him a charge in their sight.

²⁰ And put some of your honor and authority upon him, that all the congregation of the Israelites may obey him.

²¹ He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him before the Lord by the judgment of the Urim [one of two articles in the priest’s breastplate worn when asking counsel of the Lord for the people]. At Joshua’s word the people shall go out and come in, both he and all the Israelite congregation with him.

²² And Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and set him before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation,

²³ And he laid his hands upon him and commissioned him, as the Lord commanded through Moses.

²⁶ And when he had arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to associate himself with the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe he really was a disciple.

²⁷ However, Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, and he explained to them how along the way he had seen the Lord, Who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached freely and confidently and courageously in the name of Jesus.

²⁸ So he went in and out [as one] among them at Jerusalem,

²⁹ Preaching freely and confidently and boldly in the name of the Lord. And he spoke and discussed with and disputed against the Hellenists (the Grecian Jews), but they were seeking to slay him.

³⁰ And when the brethren found it out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus [his home town].

³¹ So the church throughout the whole of Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was edified [growing in wisdom, virtue, and piety] and walking in the respect and reverential fear of the Lord and in the consolation and exhortation of the Holy Spirit, continued to increase and was multiplied.