Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Cry for Help
For the director of music. To the tune of “Lilies.” A song of David.
69 God, save me.
The water has risen to my neck.
2 I’m sinking down into the mud.
There is nothing to stand on.
I am in deep water.
The flood covers me.
3 I am tired from calling for help.
My throat is sore.
My eyes are tired from waiting
for God to help me.
4 There are more people who hate me for no reason
than hairs on my head.
Those who want to destroy me are powerful.
My enemies are liars.
They make me pay back
what I did not steal.
5 God, you know what I have done wrong.
I cannot hide my guilt from you.
30 I will praise God in a song.
I will honor him by giving thanks.
31 That will please the Lord more than offering him cattle.
It will please him more than the sacrifice of a bull with horns and hooves.
32 People who are not proud will see this and be glad.
Be encouraged, you who worship God.
33 The Lord listens to those in need.
He does not look down on captives.
34 Heaven and earth should praise him.
The seas and everything in them should also.
35 God will save Jerusalem.
He will rebuild the cities of Judah.
Then people will live there and own the land.
36 The descendants of his servants will inherit that land.
Those who love him will live there.
Oil for Appointing
22 Then the Lord said to Moses, 23 “Take the finest spices: 12 pounds of liquid myrrh, half that amount (that is, 6 pounds) of sweet-smelling cinnamon, 6 pounds of sweet-smelling cane 24 and 12 pounds of cassia. Weigh all these by the Holy Place measure. Also take 4 quarts of olive oil. 25 Mix all these things like a perfume to make a holy olive oil. This special oil must be put on people and things. Do this to make them ready for service to God. 26 Put this oil on the Meeting Tent and the Ark of the Covenant with my laws in it. 27 Put this oil on the table and all its dishes. And put this oil on the lampstand and all its tools. Put the oil on the incense altar. 28 Also, put the oil on the altar for burning offerings and all its tools. Put this oil on the bowl and the stand under the bowl. Put oil on all these things to prepare them for service to God. 29 You will give these things for service to God. They will be very holy. Anything that touches these things must also be holy.
30 “Put the oil on Aaron and his sons to make them priests. Give them for service to me. Then they may serve me as priests. 31 Tell the Israelites, ‘This is to be my holy olive oil from now on. It is to be put on people and things to make them ready for service to God. 32 Do not pour it on the bodies of ordinary people. Do not make perfume the same way you make this oil. It is holy, and you must treat it as holy. 33 Someone might make perfume like it. Or he might put it on someone who is not a priest. Then that person must be separated from his people.’”
Incense
34 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Take these sweet-smelling spices: resin, onycha, galbanum and pure frankincense. Be sure that you have equal amounts of each. 35 You must make incense as a man who makes perfume would do. Add salt to it to keep it pure and holy. 36 Beat some of the incense into a fine powder. Put some of it in front of the Ark of the Covenant in the Meeting Tent. There I will meet with you. You must use this incense powder only for its very special purpose. 37 Do not make incense for yourselves the same way you make this incense. Treat it as holy to the Lord. 38 Whoever makes incense like this to use as perfume must be separated from his people.”
2 When the Jews heard him speaking the Jewish language,[a] they became very quiet. Paul said, 3 “I am a Jew. I was born in Tarsus in the country of Cilicia. I grew up in this city. I was a student of Gamaliel.[b] He carefully taught me everything about the law of our ancestors. I was very serious about serving God, just as are all of you here today. 4 I hurt the people who followed the Way of Jesus. Some of them were even killed. I arrested men and women and put them in jail. 5 The high priest and the whole council of Jewish elders can tell you that this is true. These leaders gave me letters to the Jewish brothers in Damascus. So I was going there to arrest these people and bring them back to Jerusalem to be punished.
6 “But something happened to me on my way to Damascus. It was about noon when I came near Damascus. Suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed all around me. 7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you doing things against me?’ 8 I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The voice said, ‘I am Jesus from Nazareth. I am the One you are trying to hurt.’ 9 The men who were with me did not understand the voice. But they saw the light. 10 I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ The Lord answered, ‘Get up and go to Damascus. There you will be told about all the things I have planned for you to do.’ 11 I could not see, because the bright light had made me blind. So the men led me into Damascus.
12 “There a man named Ananias came to me. He was a religious man; he obeyed the law of Moses. All the Jews who lived there respected him. 13 Ananias came to me, stood by me, and said, ‘Brother Saul, see again!’ Immediately I was able to see him. 14 Ananias told me, ‘The God of our fathers chose you long ago. He chose you to know his plan. He chose you to see the Righteous One and to hear words from him. 15 You will be his witness to all people. You will tell them about the things you have seen and heard. 16 Now, why wait any longer? Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away. Do this, trusting in him to save you.’
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.