Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 99
Praise to God for His Holiness
1 The Lord is king; let the peoples tremble!
He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!(A)
2 The Lord is great in Zion;
he is exalted over all the peoples.(B)
3 Let them praise your great and awesome name.
Holy is he!
4 Mighty King,[a] lover of justice,
you have established equity;
you have executed justice
and righteousness in Jacob.(C)
5 Extol the Lord our God;
worship at his footstool.
Holy is he!(D)
The Child Samuel at Shiloh
18 Samuel was ministering before the Lord, a boy wearing a linen ephod.(A) 19 His mother used to make for him a little robe and take it to him each year when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.(B) 20 Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May the Lord repay[a] you with children by this woman for the loan that she made to[b] the Lord,” and then they would return to their home.(C)
21 And[c] the Lord took note of Hannah; she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.(D)
The Council at Jerusalem
15 Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”(A) 2 And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders.(B) 3 So they were sent on their way by the church, and as they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, they reported the conversion of the gentiles and brought great joy to all the brothers and sisters.(C) 4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.(D) 5 But some believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and said, “It is necessary for them to be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses.”
The Council’s Letter to Gentile Believers
22 Then the apostles and the elders, with the consent of the whole church, decided to choose men from among them and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leaders among the brothers, 23 with the following letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers and sisters of gentile origin in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. 24 Since we have heard that certain persons who have gone out from us, though with no instructions from us, have said things to disturb you and have unsettled your minds,[a](A) 25 we have decided unanimously to choose men and send them to you, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.(B) 27 We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. 28 For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose on you no further burden than these essentials: 29 that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled[b] and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”(C)
30 So they were sent off and went down to Antioch. When they gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. 31 When they read it, they rejoiced at the exhortation. 32 Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the brothers and sisters. 33 After they had been there for some time, they were sent off in peace by the brothers and sisters to those who had sent them.[c](D) 35 But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, and there, with many others, they taught and proclaimed the word of the Lord.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.