Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The Holy Spirit comes
2 Then the day of the Pentecost festival arrived. All the believers were meeting together in one place.[a] 2 Suddenly, as they were sitting together, they heard a noise. The noise came from the sky and it filled the whole house. It was like the sound of a strong wind. 3 Then they saw something that looked like many small fires. The separate fires moved and went to sit on each person there. 4 All the believers became full with the Holy Spirit. They began to speak in languages that they had not learned. They spoke whatever language the Holy Spirit helped them to speak.
5 At that time, Jews who came from many different countries in the world were staying in Jerusalem. They were Jews who carefully obeyed God's Law. 6 When these Jews heard the noise, a large crowd of them came together in that place. As the believers spoke, each person in the crowd could hear the message in their own language. This confused them. 7 They were very surprised and they said to each other, ‘These men who are speaking our languages are all from Galilee. 8 But each of us can hear them speak in the language of our own home country. How can this happen? 9 Some of us are from Parthia, Media and Elam. Some of us live in Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia. Some of us are from Pontus and Asia. 10 Some of us are from Phrygia and Pamphylia. Some of us are from Egypt. Some of us are from the country of Libya, near the town of Cyrene. Some of us have come from Rome to visit Jerusalem. 11 Some of us were born as Jews. Others of us are Gentiles who now obey God as the Jews do. Some of us are from Crete and some of us are from Arabia. But we all hear these people speaking in our own languages. They are speaking about all the great things that God has done.’
12 All the people were very surprised. They did not understand what was happening. ‘What does all this mean?’ they asked each other. 13 But some other people laughed at the disciples. They said, ‘These people have drunk too much wine!’
Peter speaks to the crowd
14 Peter was there with the other 11 apostles and he stood up with them. He began to speak to the crowd with a loud voice. He said, ‘You people who are Jews like us, listen carefully to me. All of you who live here in Jerusalem, you also listen to me. I will explain to you everything that is happening. 15 Some of you think that my friends here are drunk. But they are not drunk, because it is only nine o'clock in the morning.[b] 16 No, something different is happening here. Long ago, the prophet Joel spoke God's message about all this. This is what he said:[c]
17 God says “This is what I will do in the last days.
I will give my Spirit to all people.
Your sons and daughters will speak my message to people.
Your young men will see visions in their minds.
And your old men will see things in their dreams.
18 At that time, I will give my Spirit to all my servants,
both men and women.
Then they will speak my message to people.
19 I will cause special things to appear in the sky.
I will cause special things to appear on the earth too.
Those things will show how great I am.
There will be blood, fire and thick dark smoke.
20 The sun will become dark to people.
The moon will become dark red like the colour of blood.
These things will happen before the great day of the Lord arrives.
That will be a wonderful day!
21 The Lord will save everyone who asks him to help them.” ’
The tower in Babel
11 At this time, everyone who lived on the earth spoke one language. They used the same words. 2 People moved to the east. They reached a large flat piece of land called Shinar. They stayed there to live. 3 They said to each other, ‘We should make bricks and cook them until they are hard.’ These people used bricks instead of stones to build houses. They used tar to hold the bricks together, instead of cement.[a]
4 They said, ‘Let us build a city to live in. We should also build a very tall tower. The tower will go up into the heavens. Then we will always be famous. If we do that, we will not have to separate and go to live in different places on the earth.’
5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower. He saw that the people had started to build them. 6 The Lord said, ‘Because they all speak the same language, they are able to do this. If they can do this together, they may decide to do whatever they want. 7 Now we must go down to them. We must make their language become confused. Then they will not be able to understand each other.’
8 So the Lord separated the people from one another. They went to live in different lands all over the earth. They stopped building the city for themselves. 9 That is why people called the city Babel.[b] It was because the Lord confused all the people of the world and he gave them different languages to speak. From that time, the Lord separated the people from each other so that they lived in different places all over the earth.
24 Lord, you have made very many different things!
You were very wise in the way that you have made them all.
The earth is full of the living things
that you have made.[a]
25 Look at the sea, which is deep and wide!
It is full of living things,
that are both large and small.
They are more than anyone can count.
26 Ships travel on the sea.
You made the monster, Leviathan,
to swim and to play in the sea.
27 All these living things wait for you
to give them their food when they need it.
28 When you give it to them, they take it.
You open your hand to feed them,
and they have plenty of good things.
29 When you turn away from them,
they become very afraid.
When you take away their breath,
they die and they return to the dust.
30 But when you breathe into anything,
it receives life.
In that way, you bring new life to the earth.
31 I pray that the glory of the Lord
will continue for ever!
I pray that the Lord will be happy
with everything that he has made!
32 When he looks down at the earth,
it shakes!
When he touches the mountains,
they pour out smoke!
33 All my life, I will sing to praise the Lord.
I will always sing songs to praise my God,
for as long as I live.
34 I want my song to make him happy.
I will be happy,
because of what the Lord has done.
35 I pray that wicked people will disappear from the earth.
May they disappear for ever!
I say to myself, ‘Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!’
14 All those people who live with God's Spirit as their guide are God's children. 15 The Spirit that you have received from God does not make you serve him like slaves. That would make you afraid again. No. The Spirit that God has given to you causes you to become God's children. Now he takes care of you. God's Spirit makes us call God: ‘Abba, our Father.’ 16 God's Spirit himself causes us to know that we are God's children. God's Spirit and our own spirits agree that this is true. 17 Because we are God's children, we also know that we will receive good things from him. Those are the things that he has promised to give to his children. Together with Christ, we will receive the things that God has kept for him. That is true if we agree to have troubles like Christ did. Then we will also enjoy life in heaven like Christ does.
The Holy Spirit comes
2 Then the day of the Pentecost festival arrived. All the believers were meeting together in one place.[a] 2 Suddenly, as they were sitting together, they heard a noise. The noise came from the sky and it filled the whole house. It was like the sound of a strong wind. 3 Then they saw something that looked like many small fires. The separate fires moved and went to sit on each person there. 4 All the believers became full with the Holy Spirit. They began to speak in languages that they had not learned. They spoke whatever language the Holy Spirit helped them to speak.
5 At that time, Jews who came from many different countries in the world were staying in Jerusalem. They were Jews who carefully obeyed God's Law. 6 When these Jews heard the noise, a large crowd of them came together in that place. As the believers spoke, each person in the crowd could hear the message in their own language. This confused them. 7 They were very surprised and they said to each other, ‘These men who are speaking our languages are all from Galilee. 8 But each of us can hear them speak in the language of our own home country. How can this happen? 9 Some of us are from Parthia, Media and Elam. Some of us live in Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia. Some of us are from Pontus and Asia. 10 Some of us are from Phrygia and Pamphylia. Some of us are from Egypt. Some of us are from the country of Libya, near the town of Cyrene. Some of us have come from Rome to visit Jerusalem. 11 Some of us were born as Jews. Others of us are Gentiles who now obey God as the Jews do. Some of us are from Crete and some of us are from Arabia. But we all hear these people speaking in our own languages. They are speaking about all the great things that God has done.’
12 All the people were very surprised. They did not understand what was happening. ‘What does all this mean?’ they asked each other. 13 But some other people laughed at the disciples. They said, ‘These people have drunk too much wine!’
Peter speaks to the crowd
14 Peter was there with the other 11 apostles and he stood up with them. He began to speak to the crowd with a loud voice. He said, ‘You people who are Jews like us, listen carefully to me. All of you who live here in Jerusalem, you also listen to me. I will explain to you everything that is happening. 15 Some of you think that my friends here are drunk. But they are not drunk, because it is only nine o'clock in the morning.[b] 16 No, something different is happening here. Long ago, the prophet Joel spoke God's message about all this. This is what he said:[c]
17 God says “This is what I will do in the last days.
I will give my Spirit to all people.
Your sons and daughters will speak my message to people.
Your young men will see visions in their minds.
And your old men will see things in their dreams.
18 At that time, I will give my Spirit to all my servants,
both men and women.
Then they will speak my message to people.
19 I will cause special things to appear in the sky.
I will cause special things to appear on the earth too.
Those things will show how great I am.
There will be blood, fire and thick dark smoke.
20 The sun will become dark to people.
The moon will become dark red like the colour of blood.
These things will happen before the great day of the Lord arrives.
That will be a wonderful day!
21 The Lord will save everyone who asks him to help them.” ’
8 Philip said, ‘Lord, show the Father to us. That is all that we need.’ 9 Jesus answered, ‘I have been with all of you for a long time. But still you do not seem to know me, Philip! Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. So why do you say, “Show the Father to us”? 10 I am in the Father and the Father is in me. You should believe that. The words that I say to you do not come from me myself. But the Father lives in me, and he is doing his work. 11 I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Believe me when I say that. You have seen the things that I have done. So, if you do not believe my words, believe because of my work. 12 I tell you this: Whoever believes in me will do the same things that I have been doing. Yes, he will do even greater things than these, because I will go to my Father. 13 Ask me to help you. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it for you. In that way, the Son will show everyone how great the Father is. 14 Yes, you should ask me for anything in my name.[a] I will do it for you.’
Jesus promises to send God's Spirit
15 Jesus then said, ‘If you love me, do what I have told you to do. 16 I will ask the Father to help you with this. He will send another Helper to be with you. That Helper will stay with you for ever. 17 He is God's Spirit and he shows you what is true. The people who belong to this world cannot receive him. That is because they cannot see him. They cannot know who he is. But you know him because he stays with you. And he will be in you.
25 I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Father will send the Holy Spirit to be with you. He will be your Helper. He will come in my name, and he will teach you all things.[a] He will help you to remember everything that I have told you.
27 I will go away but I will give you a gift of peace. It is mine to give and yours to keep. It is not like a gift that this world gives. Do not let yourselves be sad. Do not be afraid.
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