Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹⁶ One day we were going to the meeting place where people talked with God. We met a girl who had a bad spirit. She used to tell people what was going to happen. Her masters received much money when she did this.

¹⁷ This girl kept on following Paul and us. She was shouting, `These men are servants of the High God. They are telling us how to be saved.'

¹⁸ She did this for many days. This troubled Paul. He turned and said to the spirit in her, `In the name of Jesus Christ, I say to you, come out of her!' And the spirit came out at once.

¹⁹ Her masters saw that they had lost this way of getting money. They caught Paul and Silas and took them by force to the rulers in the court.

²⁰ When they had brought them before the judges, they said, `These men are Jews. And they are making much trouble in our city.

²¹ They are teaching people laws which we may not obey because we are Roman people.'

²² All the people standing around were against Paul and Silas. The judges tore off the clothes of Paul and Silas. They gave orders that they should be beaten.

²³ They beat them very hard. Then they put them in prison. `Take care,' they said to the prison guard. `Be sure that these prisoners do not run away.'

²⁴ And so the guard put them in the back room in the prison. They locked their feet in holes cut in heavy pieces of wood.

²⁵ At midnight, Paul and Silas were talking with God. They were singing and praising God. The other prisoners were listening to them.

²⁶ Then all of a sudden the earth shook very much. Even the floor of the prison was shaking. All the doors came wide open. The things that held the prisoners all came off.

²⁷ The prison guard woke up. He saw all the prison doors open. So he took a long knife and was going to kill himself. He thought that all the prisoners had run away.

²⁸ Paul shouted, `Stop! Do not hurt yourself. We are all here!'

²⁹ The guard called for a light and went in quickly. He kneeled down before Paul and Silas, trembling with fear.

³⁰ He brought them out of the prison and said, `Sirs, what must I do to be saved?'

³¹ They replied, `Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. All the people in your house must do the same.'

³² They talked to him and all the people in the house. They told them the word of the Lord.

³³ Paul and Silas had sores from the beating in prison. So that same hour of the night the guard washed them. Then he and all the people of his house were baptised.

³⁴ He took Paul and Silas to his home and gave them food to eat. He and all the people in his house were very happy. They now believed in God.

¹² `Look, I will come soon! When I come, I will pay every man for what he has done.

¹³ I am the First and the Last. I am the Beginning and the End.'

¹⁴ God will bless the people who do what he says and keep themselves pure and clean. They can eat fruit from the tree that gives life. And they can go through the doors into the city.

¹⁶ `I, Jesus, have sent my angel to tell these things to you in the churches. I am the root and the branch of David. I am the bright star in the morning.'

¹⁷ The Spirit and the Lamb's wife say, `Come.' He who hears should say, `Come.' He who is thirsty should come. Anyone who wishes should drink the water that gives life. It costs no money.

²⁰ He who shows these things says, `Yes, I will come soon.' Amen, Lord Jesus, come!

²¹ May the love and mercy of the Lord Jesus bless you all. Amen.

²⁰ `I do not ask this for these people only; I ask it also for the people who will believe in me when they hear what these people say.

²¹ I do this so that the people will all be one. That is the same way with us. You, my Father, belong to me and I belong to you. I ask that they also may be joined to us. Then the world will believe that you have sent me.

²² I have made them great the way you have made me great. That makes us one, as we are one.

²³ I belong to them and you belong to me, so that they all may be really one together. Then the world will know that you have sent me and that you have loved them just as you have loved me.

²⁴ `Father, I want the people that you have given me to be with me. Then they will see that you made me great, because you loved me before you made the world.

²⁵ Father, you are the one who is right. The world has not known you. But I have known you. These people know that you have sent me.

²⁶ I have told them who you are. I will tell them again and again. Then they will love each other as much as you have loved me. And I will live in them.'