Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
121 Shall I look to the mountain gods for help? 2 No! My help is from Jehovah who made the mountains! And the heavens too! 3-4 He will never let me stumble, slip, or fall. For he is always watching, never sleeping.
5 Jehovah himself is caring for you! He is your defender.[a] 6 He protects you day and night. 7 He keeps you from all evil and preserves your life. 8 He keeps his eye upon you as you come and go and always guards you.
1 1-3 Ezekiel was a priest (the son of Buzi) who lived with the Jewish exiles beside the Chebar Canal in Babylon.
One day late in June, when I was thirty years old,[a] the heavens were suddenly opened to me and I saw visions from God. 4 I saw, in this vision, a great storm coming toward me from the north, driving before it a huge cloud glowing with fire, with a mass of fire inside that flashed continually; and in the fire there was something that shone like polished brass.
5 Then from the center of the cloud, four strange forms appeared that looked like men, 6 except that each had four faces and two pairs of wings! 7 Their legs were like those of men, but their feet were cloven like calves’ feet, and shone like burnished brass. 8 And beneath each of their wings I could see human hands.
9 The four living beings were joined wing to wing, and they flew straight forward without turning. 10 Each had the face of a man in front,[b] with a lion’s face on the right side of his head, and the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle at the back! 11 Each had two pairs of wings spreading out from the middle of his back. One pair stretched out to attach to the wings of the living beings on each side, and the other pair covered his body. 12 Wherever their spirit[c] went they went, going straight forward without turning.
13 Going up and down among them were other forms that glowed like bright coals of fire or brilliant torches, and it was from these the lightning flashed. 14 The living beings darted to and fro, swift as lightning.
15 As I stared at all of this, I saw four wheels on the ground beneath them, one wheel belonging to each. 16 The wheels looked as if they were made of polished amber, and each wheel was constructed with a second wheel crosswise inside.[d] 17 They could go in any of the four directions without having to face around. 18 The four wheels had rims and spokes, and the rims were filled with eyes around their edges.
19-21 When the four living beings flew forward, the wheels moved forward with them. When they flew upwards, the wheels went up too. When the living beings stopped, the wheels stopped. For the spirit of the four living beings was in the wheels; so wherever their spirit went, the wheels and the living beings went there too.
22 The sky spreading out above them looked as though it were made of crystal; it was inexpressibly beautiful.
23 The wings of each stretched straight out to touch the others’ wings, and each had two wings covering his body. 24 And as they flew, their wings roared like waves against the shore, or like the voice of God, or like the shouting of a mighty army. When they stopped, they let down their wings. 25 And every time they stopped, there came a voice from the crystal sky above them.[e]
19 Then he ate and was strengthened.
He stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days 20 and went at once to the synagogue to tell everyone there the Good News about Jesus—that he is indeed the Son of God!
21 All who heard him were amazed. “Isn’t this the same man who persecuted Jesus’ followers so bitterly in Jerusalem?” they asked. “And we understand that he came here to arrest them all and take them in chains to the chief priests.”
22 Paul became more and more fervent in his preaching, and the Damascus Jews couldn’t withstand his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Christ.
23 After a while the Jewish leaders determined to kill him. 24 But Paul was told about their plans, that they were watching the gates of the city day and night prepared to murder him. 25 So during the night some of his converts let him down in a basket through an opening in the city wall!
26 Upon arrival in Jerusalem he tried to meet with the believers, but they were all afraid of him. They thought he was faking! 27 Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Paul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus, what the Lord had said to him, and all about his powerful preaching in the name of Jesus. 28 Then they accepted him, and after that he was constantly with the believers 29 and preached boldly in the name of the Lord. But then some Greek-speaking Jews with whom he had argued plotted to murder him. 30 However, when the other believers heard about his danger, they took him to Caesarea and then sent him to his home in Tarsus.
31 Meanwhile, the church had peace throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria, and grew in strength and numbers. The believers learned how to walk in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.