Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 121

A Song of ^[a]Ascents.

¹ I will lift up my eyes to the hills [around Jerusalem, to sacred Mount Zion and Mount Moriah]—From whence shall my help come?^(A)

² My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.

³ He will not allow your foot to slip or to be moved; He Who keeps you will not slumber.^(B)

⁴ Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand [the side not carrying a shield].^(C)

⁶ The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night.^(D)

⁷ The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life.

⁸ The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.^(E)

1 Now [when I was] in [my] thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was in the midst of captivity beside the river Chebar [in Babylonia], the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.

² On the fifth day of the month, which was in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity,

³ The word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was there upon him.^(A)

⁴ As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud with a fire enveloping it and flashing continually; a brightness was about it and out of the midst of it there seemed to glow amber metal, out of the midst of the fire.

⁵ And out of the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures [or cherubim]. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man,

⁶ But each one had four faces and each one had four wings.

⁷ And their legs were straight legs, and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot, and they sparkled like burnished bronze.

⁸ And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides. And the four of them had their faces and their wings thus:

⁹ Their wings touched one another; they turned not when they went but went every one straight forward.

¹⁰ As for the ^[a]likeness of their faces, they each had the face of a man [in front], and each had the face of a lion on the right side and the face of an ox on the left side; the four also had the face of an eagle [at the back of their heads].^(B)

¹¹ Such were their faces. And their wings were stretched out upward [each creature had four wings]; two wings of each one were touching the [adjacent] wing of the creatures on either side of it, and [the remaining] two wings of each creature covered its body.

¹² And they went every one straight forward; wherever the spirit would go, they went, and they turned not when they went.

¹³ In the midst of the living creatures there was what looked like burning coals of fire, like torches moving to and fro among the living creatures; the fire was bright and out of the fire went forth lightning.

¹⁴ And the living creatures darted back and forth like a flash of lightning.

¹⁵ Now as I was still looking at the living creatures, I saw one wheel upon the ground beside each of the living creatures with its four faces.

¹⁶ As to the appearance of the wheels and their construction: in appearance they gleamed like chrysolite; and the four were formed alike, and their construction work was as it were a wheel within a wheel.

¹⁷ When they went, they went in one of their four directions without turning [for they were faced that way].

¹⁸ As for their rims, they were so high that they were dreadful, and the four had their rims full of eyes round about.

¹⁹ And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

²⁰ Wherever the spirit went, the creatures went and the wheels rose along with them, for the spirit or life of the [four living creatures acting as one] living creature was in the wheels.

²¹ When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up high beside them, for the spirit or life of the [combined] living creature was in the wheels.

²² Over the head of the [combined] living creature there was the likeness of a firmament, looking like the terrible and awesome [dazzling of shining] crystal or ice stretched across the expanse of sky over their heads.

²³ And under the firmament their wings were stretched out straight, one toward another. Every living creature had two wings which covered its body on this side and two which covered it on that side.

²⁴ And when they went, I heard the sound of their wings like the noise of great waters, like the voice of the Almighty, the sound of tumult like the noise of a host. When they stood, they let down their wings.

²⁵ And there was a voice above the firmament that was over their heads; when they stood, they let down their wings.

¹⁹ And after he took some food, he was strengthened. For several days [afterward] he remained with the disciples at Damascus.

²⁰ And immediately in the synagogues he proclaimed Jesus, saying, He is the Son of God!

²¹ And all who heard him were amazed and said, Is not this the very man who harassed and overthrew and destroyed in Jerusalem those who called upon this Name? And he has come here for the express purpose of arresting them and bringing them in chains before the chief priests.

²² But Saul increased all the more in strength, and continued to confound and put to confusion the Jews who lived in Damascus by comparing and examining evidence and proving that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah).

²³ After considerable time had elapsed, the Jews conspired to put Saul out of the way by slaying him,

²⁴ But [the knowledge of] their plot was made known to Saul. They were guarding the [city’s] gates day and night to kill him,

²⁵ But his disciples took him at night and let him down through the [city’s] wall, lowering him in a basket or hamper.

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.