Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

12 Lord! Help! Godly men are fast disappearing. Where in all the world can dependable men be found? ² Everyone deceives and flatters and lies. There is no sincerity left.

^3-4 But the Lord will not deal gently with people who act like that; he will destroy those proud liars who say, “We will lie to our heart’s content. Our lips are our own; who can stop us?”

⁵ The Lord replies, “I will arise and defend the oppressed, the poor, the needy. I will rescue them as they have longed for me to do.” ⁶ The Lord’s promise is sure. He speaks no careless word; all he says is purest truth, like silver seven times refined. ⁷ O Lord, we know that you will forever preserve your own from the reach of evil men, ⁸ although they prowl on every side and vileness is praised throughout the land.

¹² Before every man there lies a wide and pleasant road that seems right but ends in death.

¹³ Laughter cannot mask a heavy heart. When the laughter ends, the grief remains.

¹⁴ The backslider gets bored with himself; the godly man’s life is exciting.

¹⁵ Only a simpleton believes everything he’s told! A prudent man understands the need for proof.

¹⁶ A wise man is cautious and avoids danger; a fool plunges ahead with great confidence.

¹⁷ A short-tempered man is a fool. He hates the man who is patient.

¹⁸ The simpleton is crowned with folly; the wise man is crowned with knowledge.

¹⁹ Evil men shall bow before the godly.

^20-21 Even his own neighbors despise the poor man, while the rich have many “friends.” But to despise the poor is to sin. Blessed are those who help them.

²² Those who plot evil shall wander away and be lost, but those who plan good shall be granted mercy and quietness.

²³ Work brings profit; talk brings poverty!

²⁴ Wise men are praised for their wisdom; fools are despised for their folly.

²⁵ A witness who tells the truth saves good men from being sentenced to death, but a false witness is a traitor.

²⁶ Reverence for God gives a man deep strength; his children have a place of refuge and security.

²⁷ Reverence for the Lord is a fountain of life; its waters keep a man from death.

²⁸ A growing population is a king’s glory; a dwindling nation is his doom.

²⁹ A wise man controls his temper. He knows that anger causes mistakes.

³⁰ A relaxed attitude lengthens a man’s life; jealousy rots it away.

³¹ Anyone who oppresses the poor is insulting God who made them. To help the poor is to honor God.

4 While they were talking to the people, the chief priests, the captain of the Temple police, and some of the Sadducees^[a] came over to them, ² very disturbed that Peter and John were claiming that Jesus had risen from the dead. ³ They arrested them and since it was already evening, jailed them overnight. ⁴ But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so that the number of believers now reached a new high of about five thousand men!

⁵ The next day it happened that the Council of all the Jewish leaders was in session in Jerusalem— ⁶ Annas the High Priest was there, and Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and others of the High Priest’s relatives. ⁷ So the two disciples were brought in before them.

“By what power, or by whose authority have you done this?” the Council demanded.

⁸ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Honorable leaders and elders of our nation, ⁹ if you mean the good deed done to the cripple, and how he was healed, ¹⁰ let me clearly state to you and to all the people of Israel that it was done in the name and power of Jesus from Nazareth, the Messiah, the man you crucified—but God raised back to life again. It is by his authority that this man stands here healed! ¹¹ For Jesus the Messiah is (the one referred to in the Scriptures when they speak of) a ‘stone discarded by the builders which became the capstone of the arch.’^{[b] 12} There is salvation in no one else! Under all heaven there is no other name for men to call upon to save them.”