Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
5 Even the heavens praise your awesome deeds, Lord,
your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the skies compares to the Lord?
Who is like the Lord among the divine beings?
7 God is feared in the council of the holy ones,
revered by all those around him.
8 Lord God of the Heavenly Armies,
who is as mighty as you, Lord?
Your faithfulness surrounds you.
9 You rule over the majestic[a] sea;
when its waves surge,
you calm them.
10 You crushed the proud one[b] to death;
with your powerful arm
you scattered your enemies.
11 Heaven and the earth belong to you,
the world and everything it contains—
you established them.
12 The north and south—you created them;
Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.
13 Your arm is strong;
your hand is mighty;
indeed, your right hand is victorious.[c]
14 Righteousness and justice make up
the foundation of your throne;
gracious love and truth meet before you.
15 How happy are the people who can worship joyfully![d]
Lord, they walk in the light of your presence.
16 In your name they rejoice all day long;
they exult in your justice.[e]
17 For you are their strength’s grandeur;
by your favor you exalted our power.[f]
18 Indeed, our shield belongs to the Lord,
and our king to the Holy One of Israel.
God’s Describes His Anointed
19 You spoke to your faithful[g] ones through a vision:[h]
“I will set a helper over[i] a warrior.
I will raise up a chosen one from the people.
20 I have found my servant David;
I have anointed him with my sacred oil,
21 with whom my power[j] will be firmly established;
for my arm will strengthen him.
22 No enemy will deceive him;
no wicked person[k] will afflict him.
23 I will crush his enemies before him
and strike those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and gracious love will be with him,
and in my name his power[l] will be exalted.
25 I will place his hand[m] over the sea,
and his right hand[n] over the rivers.
26 He will announce to me
‘You are my father,
my God, and the rock of my salvation.’
27 “Indeed, I myself made him the firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
28 I will show[o] my gracious love toward him forever,
since my covenant is securely established with him.
29 I will establish his dynasty[p] forever,
and his throne as long as heaven endures.[q]
30 “But if his sons abandon my laws and
do not follow my ordinances,
31 if they profane my statutes;
and do not keep my commands,
32 then I will punish their disobedience with a rod
and their iniquity with lashes.
33 But I will not cut off[r] my gracious love from him,
and I will not stop being faithful.
34 I will not dishonor my covenant,
because I will not change what I have spoken.[s]
35 I have sworn by my holiness once for all:
I will not lie to David.
36 His dynasty[t] will last forever
and his throne will be like the sun before me.
37 It will be established forever like the moon,
a faithful witness in the sky.”
Jacob Moves to Bethel
35 Later, God told Jacob, “Get up, move to Bethel, and live there. Build an altar to the God who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.”
2 Jacob announced to his household and to everyone with him, “Throw away the foreign gods that you’ve kept among you, purify yourselves, and change your clothes. 3 Then let’s get up and go to Bethel, where I’ll build an altar to the God who answered me when I was in distress and who was with me on the road, wherever I went.”
4 So they handed over to Jacob all their foreign gods on which they had been depending,[a] along with the rings that they were wearing on their ears. Jacob buried them under the oak that grew near Shechem. 5 As they set out on their journey, because the people who lived in the[b] cities around them feared God, they did not pursue Jacob’s sons.
6 Eventually, Jacob and everyone with him arrived at Luz (also called Beth-el) in the territory of Canaan. 7 He built an altar there to God and named the place El Beth-el, because God had revealed himself there when he was fleeing from his brother. 8 Rebekah’s nurse Deborah died and was buried there, under the oak tree that was below Beth-el. That’s why the place was named Allon-bacuth.[c]
God Appears Again to Jacob
9 God appeared again to Jacob after he had arrived from Paddan-aram[d] and blessed him. 10 Then God told him,
“Your name is Jacob.
No longer are you to be called Jacob.
Instead, your name will be Israel.”
So God called his name Israel 11 and also told him,
“I am God Almighty.
You are to be fruitful
and multiply.
You will become a nation—
in fact, an assembly of nations!
Kings will come from you—
they’ll emerge from your own loins!
12 Now as for the land
that I gave to Abraham and Isaac,
I’m giving it to you
and to your descendants who come after you.
I’m giving the land to you!”
13 After this, God ascended from the place where he had been speaking to him. 14 Jacob erected a pillar of stone at that very place where God had spoken to him. He poured a drink offering over it, anointed it with oil, 15 and named the place where God had spoken to him Beth-el.
Gentiles Receive the Holy Spirit
44 While Peter was still making this statement, the Holy Spirit fell on all the people who were listening to his message. 45 Then the circumcised believers who had come with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the gentiles, too, 46 because they heard them speaking in foreign languages[a] and praising God. Then Peter said, 47 “No one can stop us from using water to baptize these people who have received the Holy Spirit in the same way that we did, can they?”[b] 48 So Peter[c] ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus the Messiah.[d] Then they asked him to stay there for several days.
Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.