Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
24 O God, your march of triumph is seen by all,
the procession of God, my king, into his sanctuary.
25 The singers are in front, the musicians are behind,
in between are the young women beating the tambourines.
26 “Praise God in the meeting of his people;
praise the Lord, all you descendants of Jacob!”
27 First comes Benjamin, the smallest tribe,
then the leaders of Judah with their group,
followed by the leaders of Zebulun and Naphtali.
28 Show your power, O God,
the power you have used on our behalf
29 from your Temple in Jerusalem,
where kings bring gifts to you.
30 Rebuke Egypt, that wild animal in the reeds;
rebuke the nations, that herd of bulls with their calves,
until they all bow down and offer you their silver.
Scatter those people who love to make war![a]
31 Ambassadors[b] will come from Egypt;
the Ethiopians[c] will raise their hands in prayer to God.
32 Sing to God, kingdoms of the world,
sing praise to the Lord,
33 to him who rides in the sky,
the ancient sky.
Listen to him shout with a mighty roar.
34 Proclaim God's power;
his majesty is over Israel,
his might is in the skies.
35 How awesome is God as he comes from his sanctuary—
the God of Israel!
He gives strength and power to his people.
Praise God!
6 As they came to the threshing place of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out and took hold of the Covenant Box. 7 At once the Lord God became angry with Uzzah and killed him because of his irreverence.[a] Uzzah died there beside the Covenant Box, 8 and so that place has been called Perez Uzzah[b] ever since. David was furious because the Lord had punished Uzzah in anger.
9 Then David was afraid of the Lord and said, “How can I take the Covenant Box with me now?” 10 So he decided not to take it with him to Jerusalem; instead, he turned off the road and took it to the house of Obed Edom, a native of the city of Gath. 11 (A)It stayed there three months, and the Lord blessed Obed Edom and his family.
12 King David heard that because of the Covenant Box the Lord had blessed Obed Edom's family and all that he had; so he got the Covenant Box from Obed's house to take it to Jerusalem with a great celebration.
Paul Is Arrested in the Temple
27 But just when the seven days were about to come to an end, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul in the Temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and grabbed Paul. 28 “People of Israel!” they shouted. “Help! This is the man who goes everywhere teaching everyone against the people of Israel, the Law of Moses, and this Temple. And now he has even brought some Gentiles into the Temple and defiled this holy place!” (29 (A)They said this because they had seen Trophimus from Ephesus with Paul in the city, and they thought that Paul had taken him into the Temple.)
30 Confusion spread through the whole city, and the people all ran together, grabbed Paul, and dragged him out of the Temple. At once the Temple doors were closed. 31 The mob was trying to kill Paul, when a report was sent up to the commander of the Roman troops that all of Jerusalem was rioting. 32 At once the commander took some officers and soldiers and rushed down to the crowd. When the people saw him with the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33 The commander went over to Paul, arrested him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked, “Who is this man, and what has he done?” 34 Some in the crowd shouted one thing, others something else. There was such confusion that the commander could not find out exactly what had happened, so he ordered his men to take Paul up into the fort. 35 They got as far as the steps with him, and then the soldiers had to carry him because the mob was so wild. 36 They were all coming after him and screaming, “Kill him!”
Paul Defends Himself
37 As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the fort, he spoke to the commander: “May I say something to you?”
“You speak Greek, do you?” the commander asked. 38 “Then you are not that Egyptian fellow who some time ago started a revolution and led four thousand armed terrorists out into the desert?”
39 Paul answered, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of an important city. Please let me speak to the people.”
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.