Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Paul’s Speech at the Areopagus. 22 Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said:[a]
“You Athenians, I see that in every respect you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around looking carefully at your shrines, I even discovered an altar inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’[b] What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and all that is in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands,(A) 25 nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything. Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything. 26 He made from one[c] the whole human race to dwell on the entire surface of the earth, and he fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions, 27 so that people might seek God, even perhaps grope for him and find him, though indeed he is not far from any one of us.(B) 28 For ‘In him we live and move and have our being,’[d] as even some of your poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’ 29 Since therefore we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divinity is like an image fashioned from gold, silver, or stone by human art and imagination.(C) 30 God has overlooked the times of ignorance, but now he demands that all people everywhere repent 31 because he has established a day on which he will ‘judge the world with justice’ through a man he has appointed, and he has provided confirmation for all by raising him from the dead.”(D)
8 Bless our God, you peoples;
loudly sound his praise,
9 Who has kept us alive
and not allowed our feet to slip.(A)
10 You tested us, O God,
tried us as silver tried by fire.(B)
11 You led us into a snare;
you bound us at the waist as captives.
12 [a]You let captors set foot on our neck;
we went through fire and water;
then you led us out to freedom.(C)
III
13 I will bring burnt offerings[b] to your house;
to you I will fulfill my vows,
14 Which my lips pronounced
and my mouth spoke in my distress.
15 Burnt offerings of fatlings I will offer you
and sacrificial smoke of rams;
I will sacrifice oxen and goats.
Selah
16 Come and hear, all you who fear God,
while I recount what has been done for me.
17 I called to him with my mouth;
praise was upon my tongue.
18 Had I cherished evil in my heart,
the Lord would not have heard.
19 But God did hear
and listened to my voice in prayer.
20 Blessed be God, who did not reject my prayer
and refuse his mercy.
13 Now who is going to harm you if you are enthusiastic for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer because of righteousness, blessed are you. Do not be afraid or terrified with fear of them, 15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope,(A) 16 but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil.
18 For Christ also suffered[a] for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the spirit.(B) 19 In it he also went to preach to the spirits in prison,[b] 20 who had once been disobedient while God patiently waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few persons, eight in all, were saved through water.(C) 21 This prefigured baptism, which saves you now. It is not a removal of dirt from the body but an appeal to God[c] for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,(D) 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.(E)
The Advocate. 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.(A) 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate[a] to be with you always,(B) 17 the Spirit of truth,[b] which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you.(C) 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.[c] 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live.(D) 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.(E) 21 Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”(F)
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.