Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

146 Praise the Lord! Yes, really praise him! ² I will praise him as long as I live, yes, even with my dying breath.

³ Don’t look to men for help; their greatest leaders fail; ⁴ for every man must die. His breathing stops, life ends, and in a moment all he planned for himself is ended. ⁵ But happy is the man who has the God of Jacob as his helper, whose hope is in the Lord his God— ⁶ the God who made both earth and heaven, the seas and everything in them. He is the God who keeps every promise, ⁷ who gives justice to the poor and oppressed and food to the hungry. He frees the prisoners ⁸ and opens the eyes of the blind; he lifts the burdens from those bent down beneath their loads. For the Lord loves good men. ⁹ He protects the immigrants and cares for the orphans and widows. But he turns topsy-turvy the plans of the wicked.

¹⁰ The Lord will reign forever. O Jerusalem,^[a] your God is King in every generation! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

29 “This is the ceremony for the dedication of Aaron and his sons as priests: get a young bull and two rams with no defects, ² and bread made without yeast, and thin sheets of sweetened bread mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers with oil poured over them. (The various kinds of bread shall be made with finely ground wheat flour.) ^3-4 Place the bread in a basket and bring it to the entrance of the Tabernacle, along with the young bull and the two rams.

“Bathe Aaron and his sons there at the entrance. ⁵ Then put Aaron’s robe on him, and the embroidered shirt, ephod, chestpiece, and sash, ⁶ and place on his head the turban with the gold plate. ⁷ Then take the anointing oil and pour it upon his head. ⁸ Next, dress his sons in their robes, ⁹ with their woven sashes, and place caps on their heads. They will then be priests forever; thus you shall consecrate Aaron and his sons.

⁶ “As I was on the road, nearing Damascus, suddenly about noon a very bright light from heaven shone around me. ⁷ And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Paul, Paul, why are you persecuting me?’

⁸ “‘Who is it speaking to me, sir?’ I asked. And he replied, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, the one you are persecuting.’ ⁹ The men with me saw the light but didn’t understand what was said.

¹⁰ “And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’

“And the Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told what awaits you in the years ahead.’

¹¹ “I was blinded by the intense light and had to be led into Damascus by my companions. ¹² There a man named Ananias, as godly a man as you could find for obeying the law and well thought of by all the Jews of Damascus, ¹³ came to me, and standing beside me said, ‘Brother Paul, receive your sight!’ And that very hour I could see him!

¹⁴ “Then he told me, ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Messiah^[a] and hear him speak. ¹⁵ You are to take his message everywhere, telling what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ And now, why delay? Go and be baptized and be cleansed from your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’

^17-18 “One day after my return to Jerusalem, while I was praying in the Temple, I fell into a trance and saw a vision of God saying to me, ‘Hurry! Leave Jerusalem, for the people here won’t believe you when you give them my message.’

¹⁹ “‘But Lord,’ I argued, ‘they certainly know that I imprisoned and beat those in every synagogue who believed on you. ²⁰ And when your witness Stephen was killed, I was standing there agreeing—keeping the coats they laid aside as they stoned him.’

²¹ “But God said to me, ‘Leave Jerusalem, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles!’”