); Wisdom 4:7-15 (The righteous are rewarded); Acts 7:59—8:8 (Stephen is stoned to death) (New American Bible (Revised Edition))
Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 148[a]
All Creation Summoned to Praise
1 Hallelujah!
I
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights.
2 Praise him, all you his angels;
give praise, all you his hosts.(A)
3 Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all shining stars.
4 Praise him, highest heavens,[b]
you waters above the heavens.
5 Let them all praise the Lord’s name;
for he commanded and they were created,(B)
6 Assigned them their station forever,
set an order that will never change.
II
7 Praise the Lord from the earth,
you sea monsters and all the deeps of the sea;(C)
8 Lightning and hail, snow and thick clouds,
storm wind that fulfills his command;
9 Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars;(D)
10 Animals wild and tame,
creatures that crawl and birds that fly;(E)
11 Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all who govern on earth;
12 Young men and women too,
old and young alike.
13 Let them all praise the Lord’s name,
for his name alone is exalted,
His majesty above earth and heaven.(F)
14 [c]He has lifted high the horn of his people;
to the praise of all his faithful,
the Israelites, the people near to him.
Hallelujah!
C. On Early Death[a]
7 But the righteous one, though he die early, shall be at rest.(A)
8 For the age that is honorable comes not with the passing of time,(B)
nor can it be measured in terms of years.
9 Rather, understanding passes for gray hair,
and an unsullied life is the attainment of old age.
10 [b]The one who pleased God was loved,(C)
living among sinners, was transported—
11 Snatched away, lest wickedness pervert his mind
or deceit beguile his soul;(D)
12 For the witchery of paltry things obscures what is right
and the whirl of desire transforms the innocent mind.(E)
13 Having become perfect in a short while,
he reached the fullness of a long career;
14 for his soul was pleasing to the Lord,
therefore he sped him out of the midst of wickedness.(F)
But the people saw and did not understand,
nor did they take that consideration into account.[c]
59 As they were stoning Stephen,(A) he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”[a] 60 Then he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them”; and when he said this, he fell asleep.(B)
Chapter 8
1 Now Saul was consenting to his execution.(C)
Persecution of the Church. On that day, there broke out a severe persecution[b] of the church in Jerusalem, and all were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.[c] 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made a loud lament over him. 3 Saul, meanwhile, was trying to destroy the church;[d] entering house after house and dragging out men and women, he handed them over for imprisonment.(D)
III. The Mission in Judea and Samaria
Philip in Samaria. 4 Now those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.(E) 5 Thus Philip went down to [the] city of Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them.(F) 6 With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing. 7 For unclean spirits, crying out in a loud voice, came out of many possessed people, and many paralyzed and crippled people were cured.(G) 8 There was great joy in that city.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.