Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Song of Trust in God
Of David.
27 The Lord is my light [18:28; 43:3; Is. 9:2; John 1:4, 9; 8:12; 1 John 1:5] and ·the one who saves me [my salvation].
·So why should I fear anyone [L Whom should I fear]?
The Lord ·protects [L is the stronghold/refuge of] my life.
·So why [L Of whom] should I be afraid?
2 Evil people may try to ·destroy my body [L approach me and devour/consume my flesh].
My enemies and those who hate me ·are overwhelmed and defeated [L stumble and fall].
3 If an army ·surrounds [L camps around] me,
·I [L my heart] will not be afraid.
If war ·breaks out [rises against me],
I will ·trust [have confidence in] ·the Lord [L in this; Rom. 8:31–39].
4 I ask only one thing from the Lord.
This is what I ·want [L seek after]:
Let me ·live [dwell] in the Lord’s house [C the sanctuary]
all the days of my life.
Let me see the Lord’s beauty
and ·look with my own eyes [L make inquiry; C discover God’s will] at his Temple.
5 ·During danger [L In the day of trouble] he will ·keep me safe [L hide me] in his shelter.
He will ·hide [conceal] me in his Holy Tent,
or he will ·keep me safe [L set me high] on a ·high mountain [L rock].
6 My head is higher than my enemies around me.
I will offer joyful sacrifices in his Holy Tent [C the Tabernacle].
I will sing and praise the Lord.
27 As Saul, his servant, and Samuel were getting near the edge of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to go on ahead of us, but you stay, ·because I have a message from [so I may give/proclaim the word of] God for you.”
Samuel Appoints Saul
10 Samuel took a ·jar [flask; vial] of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s head. He kissed Saul and said, “The Lord has ·appointed [anointed] you ·to lead [ruler; prince over] his ·people[a] [special possession; inheritance]. 2 After you leave me today, you will meet two men near Rachel’s tomb on the border of Benjamin at Zelzah [Gen. 35:19]. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you were looking for have been found. But now your father has stopped thinking about his donkeys and is ·worrying [anxious] about you. He is asking, “What will I do about my son?” ’
3 “Then you will go on until you reach the ·big [L oak] tree at Tabor. Three men ·on their way to worship [L going up to] God at Bethel will meet you there. One man will be carrying three ·goats [kids]. Another will be carrying three loaves of bread. And the third will have a ·leather bag [skin] full of wine. 4 They will greet you and offer you two loaves of bread, which you must accept. 5 Then you will go to ·Gibeah [or the hill] of God, where a Philistine ·camp [garrison] is. When you approach this town, a group of prophets will come down from the ·place of worship [high place]. They will be playing harps, tambourines, flutes, and lyres, and they will be prophesying. 6 Then the Spirit of the Lord will ·rush upon [come on; seize; possess] you with power. You will prophesy with them, and you will be changed into a different man. 7 After these signs happen, do ·whatever you find to do [what must be done; what you see fit to do; L what your hand finds to do], because God ·will help [is with] you [C Saul was supposed to attack the garrison, but he did not do so].
8 “Go ahead of me to Gilgal. I will come down to you to offer whole burnt offerings [Lev. 1] and to sacrifice ·fellowship [peace; well-being] offerings [Lev. 3:1]. But you must wait seven days. Then I will come and ·tell [show; reveal to] you what to do [C Saul did not do this either].”
Other Apostles Accepted Paul
2 [L Then] After fourteen years I went to Jerusalem again, this time with Barnabas [Acts 4:36; 9:26–27; 11:22, 25, 30; 13:2–4; 15:36–39]. I also took Titus [2 Cor. 2:13; Titus 1:4–5] with me. 2 I went because ·God showed me I should go [L of a revelation]. There I met in private with ·the leaders of the church [or those who seemed to be leaders; or the prominent/influential ones] and I ·told [presented to; set before] them the ·Good News [Gospel] that I preach to the Gentiles. ·I did not want my past work and the work I am now doing to be wasted [L …to make sure I was not running or had run in vain]. 3 Titus was with me, but he was not ·forced [compelled] to be circumcised [Gen. 17], even though he was a Greek. 4 ·We talked about this problem [This issue arose] because some false ·believers [L brothers] had come into our group secretly. They came in ·like spies to overturn [to sabotage; L to spy on] the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. They wanted to make us slaves. 5 But we did not give in to ·those false believers [L them] for a minute, so that the truth of the ·Good News [Gospel] would ·continue [be preserved; not be compromised] for you.
6 Those leaders who ·seemed to be important [or were prominent/influential] did not ·change the Good News that I preach [or add anything to my message]. (It doesn’t matter to me if they were ·“important” [prominent; influential] or not. To God everyone is the same.) 7 But these leaders saw that I had been ·given the work of telling the Good News [L entrusted with the Gospel] to the ·Gentiles [non-Jewish people; L uncircumcised], just as Peter ·had the work of telling the Jews [L to the circumcised]. 8 [L For] ·God [L The one] who gave Peter the power to work as an apostle for the ·Jewish people [L circumcised] also gave me the power to work as an apostle for the Gentiles. 9 James, Peter, and John, who seemed to be ·the leaders [L pillars], ·understood [recognized; acknowledged] that God had given me this special grace, so they ·accepted [shook hands in partnership with; L gave the right hand of fellowship/partnership to] Barnabas and me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles and they would go to the ·Jewish people [L circumcised]. 10 The only thing they asked us was to remember to help the poor [C meaning especially the poor believers in Jerusalem; Acts 11:27–30]—something I ·really wanted [myself was eager/zealous] to do.
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