Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 135

¹ Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) Praise the name of the Lord; praise Him, O you servants of the Lord!

² You who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God,

³ Praise the Lord! For the Lord is good; sing praises to His name, for He is gracious and lovely!

⁴ For the Lord has chosen [the descendants of] Jacob for Himself, Israel for His peculiar possession and treasure.^(A)

⁵ For I know that the Lord is great and that our Lord is above all gods.

⁶ Whatever the Lord pleases, that has He done in the heavens and on earth, in the seas and all deeps—

⁷ Who causes the vapors to arise from the ends of the earth, Who makes lightnings for the rain, Who brings the wind out of His storehouses;

⁸ Who smote the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast;^(B)

⁹ Who sent signs and wonders into the midst of you, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh and all his servants;

¹⁰ Who smote nations many and great and slew mighty kings—

¹¹ Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan.

¹² [The Lord] gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to Israel His people.

¹³ Your name, O Lord, endures forever, Your fame, O Lord, throughout all ages.

¹⁴ For the Lord will judge and vindicate His people, and He will delay His judgments [manifesting His righteousness and mercy] and take into favor His servants [those who meet His terms of separation unto Him].^(C)

¹⁵ The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.

¹⁶ [Idols] have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not;

¹⁷ They have ears, but they hear not, nor is there any breath in their mouths.

¹⁸ Those who make [idols] are like them; so is everyone who trusts in and relies on them.^(D)

¹⁹ Bless (affectionately and gratefully praise) the Lord, O house of Israel; bless the Lord, O house of Aaron [God’s ministers].

²⁰ Bless the Lord, O house of Levi [the dedicated tribe]; you who reverently and worshipfully fear the Lord, bless the Lord [affectionately and gratefully praise Him]!^(E)

²¹ Blessed out of Zion be the Lord, Who dwells [with us] at Jerusalem! Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

14 Then came certain of the elders of Israel to me and sat before me.

² And the word of the Lord came to me:

³ Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and put the stumbling block of their iniquity and guilt before their faces; should I permit Myself to be inquired of at all by them?

⁴ Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Every man of the house of Israel who takes his idols [of self-will and unsubmissiveness] into his heart and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity [idols of silver and gold] before his face, and yet comes to the prophet [to inquire of him], I the Lord will answer him, answer him according to the multitude of his idols,

⁵ That I may lay hold of the house of Israel in the thoughts of their own mind and heart, because they are all estranged from Me through their idols.

⁶ Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

⁷ For anyone of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who separates himself from Me, taking his idols into his heart and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity and guilt before his face, and [yet] comes to the prophet to inquire for himself of Me, I the Lord will answer him Myself!

⁸ And I will set My face against that [false worshiper] and will make him a sign and a byword, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people; and you shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord.

⁹ [The prophet has not been granted permission to give an answer to the hypocritical inquirer] but if the prophet does give the man the answer he desires [thus allowing himself to be a party to the inquirer’s sin], I the Lord will see to it that the prophet is deceived in his answer, and I will stretch out My hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of My people Israel.

¹⁰ And they both shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the iniquity of the [presumptuous] prophet shall be the same as the iniquity of the [hypocritical] inquirer,

¹¹ That the house of Israel may go no more astray from Me, neither defile themselves any more with all their transgressions, but that they may be My people, and I may be their God, says the Lord God.

3 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour (three o’clock in the afternoon),

² [When] a certain man crippled from his birth was being carried along, who was laid each day at that gate of the temple [which is] called Beautiful, so that he might beg for charitable gifts from those who entered the temple.

³ So when he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them to give him a gift.

⁴ And Peter directed his gaze intently at him, and so did John, and said, Look at us!

⁵ And [the man] paid attention to them, expecting that he was going to get something from them.

⁶ But Peter said, Silver and gold (money) I do not have; but what I do have, that I give to you: in [the ^[a]use of] the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!

⁷ Then he took hold of the man’s right hand with a firm grip and raised him up. And at once his feet and ankle bones became strong and steady,

⁸ And leaping forth he stood and ^[b]began to walk, and he went into the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

⁹ And all the people saw him walking about and praising God,

¹⁰ And they recognized him as the man who usually sat [begging] for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement (bewilderment, consternation) over what had occurred to him.