Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
101 I will sing about your loving-kindness and your justice, Lord. I will sing your praises!
2 I will try to walk a blameless path, but how I need your help, especially in my own home, where I long to act as I should.
3 Help me to refuse the low and vulgar things; help me to abhor all crooked deals of every kind, to have no part in them. 4 I will reject all selfishness and stay away from every evil. 5 I will not tolerate anyone who secretly slanders his neighbors; I will not permit conceit and pride. 6 I will make the godly of the land my heroes and invite them to my home. Only those who are truly good shall be my servants. 7 But I will not allow those who deceive and lie to stay in my house. 8 My daily task will be to ferret out criminals and free the city of God from their grip.
16 Soon afterwards two young prostitutes came to the king to have an argument settled.
17-18 “Sir,” one of them began, “we live in the same house, just the two of us, and recently I had a baby. When it was three days old, this woman’s baby was born too. 19 But her baby died during the night when she rolled over on it in her sleep and smothered it. 20 Then she got up in the night and took my son from beside me while I was asleep, and laid her dead child in my arms and took mine to sleep beside her. 21 And in the morning when I tried to feed my baby it was dead! But when it became light outside, I saw that it wasn’t my son at all.”
22 Then the other woman interrupted, “It certainly was her son, and the living child is mine.”
“No,” the first woman said, “the dead one is yours and the living one is mine.” And so they argued back and forth before the king.
23 Then the king said, “Let’s get the facts straight: both of you claim the living child, and each says that the dead child belongs to the other. 24 All right, bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought to the king. 25 Then he said, “Divide the living child in two and give half to each of these women!”
26 Then the woman who really was the mother of the child, and who loved him very much, cried out, “Oh no, sir! Give her the child—don’t kill him!”
But the other woman said, “All right, it will be neither yours nor mine; divide it between us!”
27 Then the king said, “Give the baby to the woman who wants him to live, for she is the mother!”
28 Word of the king’s decision spread quickly throughout the entire nation, and all the people were awed as they realized the great wisdom God had given him.
6 But with the believers multiplying rapidly, there were rumblings of discontent. Those who spoke only Greek complained that their widows were being discriminated against, that they were not being given as much food in the daily distribution as the widows who spoke Hebrew. 2 So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers.
“We should spend our time preaching, not administering a feeding program,” they said. 3 “Now look around among yourselves, dear brothers, and select seven men, wise and full of the Holy Spirit, who are well thought of by everyone; and we will put them in charge of this business. 4 Then we can spend our time in prayer, preaching, and teaching.”
5 This sounded reasonable to the whole assembly, and they elected the following: Stephen (a man unusually full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, Nicolaus of Antioch (a Gentile convert to the Jewish faith, who had become a Christian).
6 These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them and laid their hands on them in blessing.
7 God’s message was preached in ever-widening circles, and the number of disciples increased vastly in Jerusalem; and many of the Jewish priests were converted too.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.