Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

29 A psalm of a canticle, at the dedication of David's house.

² I will extol thee, O Lord, for thou hast upheld me: and hast not made my enemies to rejoice over me.

³ O Lord my God, I have cried to thee, and then hast healed me.

⁴ Thou hast brought forth, O Lord, my soul from hell: thou hast saved me from them that go down into the pit.

⁵ Sing to the Lord, O ye his saints: and give praise to the memory of his holiness.

⁶ For wrath is in his indignation; and life in his good will. In the evening weeping shall have place, and in the morning gladness.

⁷ And in my abundance I said: I shall never be moved.

⁸ O Lord, in thy favour, thou gavest strength to my beauty. Thou turnedst away thy face from me, and I became troubled.

⁹ To thee, O Lord, will I cry: and I will make supplication to my God.

¹⁰ What profit is there in my blood, whilst I go down to corruption? Shall dust confess to thee, or declare thy truth?

¹¹ The Lord hath heard, and hath had mercy on me: the Lord became my helper.

¹² Thou hast turned for me my mourning into joy: thou hast cut my sackcloth, and hast compassed me with gladness:

¹³ To the end that my glory may sing to thee, and I may not regret: O Lord my God, I will give praise to thee for ever.

² And after this he gathered together the ancients of Israel, and all the princes of the tribes, and the heads of the families, of the children of Israel to Jerusalem, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Sion.

³ And all the men of Israel came to the king in the solemn day of the seventh month.

⁴ And when all the ancients of Israel were come, the Levites took up the ark,

⁵ And brought it in, together with all the furniture of the tabernacle. And the priests with the Levites carried the vessels of the sanctuary, which were in the tabernacle.

⁶ And king Solomon and all the assembly of Israel, and all that were gathered together before the ark, sacrificed rams, and oxen without number: so great was the multitude of the victims.

⁷ And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord into its place, that is, to the oracle of the temple, into the holy of holies under the wings of the cherubims:

⁸ So that the cherubims spread their wings over the place, in which the ark was set, and covered the ark itself and its staves.

⁹ Now the ends of the staves wherewith the ark was carried, because they were some thing longer, were seen before the oracle: but if a man were a little outward, he could not see them. So the ark has been there unto this day.

¹⁰ And there was nothing else in the ark but the two tables which Moses put there at Horeb when the Lord gave the law to the children of Israel, at their coming out of Egypt.

¹¹ Now when the priests were come out of the sanctuary, (for all the priests that could be found there, mere sanctified: and as yet at that time the courses and orders of the ministries were not divided among them,)

¹² Both the Levites and the singing men, that is, both they that were under Asaph, and they that were under Heman, and they that were under Idithun, with their sons, and their brethren, clothed with fine linen, sounded with cymbals, and psalteries, and harps, standing on the east side of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests, sounding with trumpets.

¹³ So when they all sounded together, both with trumpets, and voice, and cymbals, and organs, and with divers kind of musical instruments, and lifted up their voice on high: the sound was heard afar off, so that when they began to praise the Lord, and to say: Give glory to the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever: the house of God was filled with a cloud.

¹⁴ Nor could the priests stand and minister by reason of the cloud. For the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.

¹⁹ Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not incredulous to the heavenly vision:

²⁰ But to them first that are at Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and unto all the country of Judea, and to the Gentiles did I preach, that they should do penance, and turn to God, doing works worthy of penance.

²¹ For this cause the Jews, when I was in the temple, having apprehended me, went about to kill me.

²² But being aided by the help of God, I stand unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other thing than those which the prophets, and Moses did say should come to pass:

²³ That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light to the people, and to the Gentiles.

²⁴ As he spoke these things, and made his answer, Festus said with a loud voice: Paul, thou art beside thyself: much learning doth make thee mad.

²⁵ And Paul said: I am not mad, most excellent Festus, but I speak words of truth and soberness.

²⁶ For the king knoweth of these things, to whom also I speak with confidence. For I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him. For neither was any of these things done in a corner.

²⁷ Believest thou the prophets, O king Agrippa? I know that thou believest.

²⁸ And Agrippa said to Paul: In a little thou persuadest me to become a Christian.

²⁹ And Paul said: I would to God, that both in a little and in much, not only thou, but also all that hear me, this day, should become such as I also am, except these bands.