Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Praise God Who Creates and Saves
33 Sing to the Lord, you who do what is right.
Honest people should praise him.
2 Praise the Lord on the harp.
Make music for him on the ten-stringed lyre.
3 Sing a new song to him.
Play well and joyfully.
4 God’s word is true.
Everything he does is right.
5 He loves what is right and fair.
The Lord’s love fills the earth.
6 The sky was made at the Lord’s command.
By the breath from his mouth, he made all the stars.
7 He gathered the water in the sea into a heap.
He made the great ocean stay in its place.
8 All the earth should worship the Lord.
The whole world should fear him.
9 He spoke, and it happened.
He commanded, and it appeared.
10 The Lord upsets the plans of nations.
He ruins all their plans.
11 But the Lord’s plans will stand forever.
His ideas will last from now on.
12 Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord.
Happy are the people he chose for his very own.
17 After defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, Abram went home. As Abram was returning, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh. (That is now called King’s Valley.)
18 Melchizedek king of Salem also went to meet Abram. Melchizedek was a priest for God Most High. He brought bread and wine. 19 Melchizedek blessed Abram and said,
“Abram, may God Most High give you blessings.
God made heaven and earth.
20 And we praise God Most High.
He has helped you to defeat your enemies.”
Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything he had brought back from the battle.
21 Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “You may keep all these things for yourself. Just give me my people who were captured.”
22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I make a promise to the Lord. He is the God Most High, who made heaven and earth. 23 I promise that I will not keep anything that is yours. I will not keep even a thread or a sandal strap. That way you cannot say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ 24 I will keep nothing but the food my young men have eaten. But give Aner, Eshcol and Mamre their share of what we won. They went with me into battle.”
Paul on the Island of Malta
28 When we were safe on land, we learned that the island was called Malta. 2 It was raining and very cold. But the people who lived there were very good to us. They made us a fire and welcomed all of us. 3 Paul gathered a pile of sticks for the fire. He was putting them on the fire when a poisonous snake came out because of the heat and bit him on the hand. 4 The people living on the island saw the snake hanging from Paul’s hand. They said to each other, “This man must be a murderer! He did not die in the sea, but Justice[a] does not want him to live.” 5 But Paul shook the snake off into the fire. He was not hurt. 6 The people thought that Paul would swell up or fall down dead. The people waited and watched him for a long time, but nothing bad happened to him. So they changed their minds about Paul. Now they said, “He is a god!”
7 There were some fields around there owned by a very important man on the island. His name was Publius. He welcomed us into his home and was very good to us. We stayed in his house for three days. 8 Publius’ father was very sick with a fever and dysentery.[b] But Paul went to him and prayed. Then he put his hands on the man and healed him. 9 After this, all the other sick people on the island came to Paul, and he healed them, too. 10-11 The people on the island gave us many honors. We stayed there three months. When we were ready to leave, they gave us the things we needed.
Paul Goes to Rome
We got on a ship from Alexandria. The ship had stayed on the island during the winter. On the front of the ship was the sign of the twin gods.[c]
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.