Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
40 Yahweh burned with anger against his own people.
He was disgusted with those who belonged to him.
41 He handed them over to other nations,
and those who hated them ruled them.
42 Their enemies oppressed them
and made them subject to their power.
43 He rescued them many times,
but they continued to plot rebellion against him
and to sink deeper because of their sin.
44 He saw that they were suffering
when he heard their cry for help.
45 He remembered his promise[a] to them.
In keeping with his rich mercy, he changed his plans.
46 He let them find compassion
from all those who held them captive.
47 Rescue us, O Yahweh our Elohim, and gather us from the nations
so that we may give thanks to your holy name
and make your praise our glory.
48 Thanks be to Yahweh Elohim of Israel
from everlasting to everlasting.
Let all the people say amen.
Hallelujah!
12 No one is wise enough to understand this.
To whom has Yahweh revealed this
so that they can explain it?
The land dies; it has been ruined like the desert
so that no one can travel through it.
13 Yahweh answered,
“They’ve abandoned my teachings that I placed in front of them.
They didn’t obey me, and they didn’t follow them.
14 They followed their own stubborn ways and other gods—the Baals,
as their ancestors taught them.”
15 This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth, the Elohim of Israel, says:
I am going to feed these people bitterness
and give them poison to drink.
16 I will scatter them among nations
that they and their ancestors haven’t heard of.
I will send armies after them until I’ve wiped them out.
17 This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth says:
Consider this:
Call for the women who cry at funerals.
Send for those who are the most skilled.
18 They should come quickly and cry for us.
Our eyes will run with tears.
Our eyelids will flow with water.
19 The sound of crying is heard from Zion.
“We’re ruined! We’re very ashamed.
We must leave our land because our homes have been torn down.”
20 Listen to the word of Yahweh, you women,
and open your ears to hear his words.
Teach your daughters how to cry.
Teach your neighbors funeral songs.
21 Death has come through our windows and entered our palaces.
Death has cut down the children in the streets
and the young men in the marketplaces.
22 This is what Yahweh says:
Dead bodies will fall like manure on the field.
They will be like grain that has been cut but not gathered.
The Lord Is the Only True God
23 This is what Yahweh says:
Don’t let wise people brag about their wisdom.
Don’t let strong people brag about their strength.
Don’t let rich people brag about their riches.
24 If they want to brag, they should brag that they understand and know me.
They should brag that I, Yahweh, act out of love, righteousness,
and justice on the earth.
This kind of bragging pleases me, declares Yahweh.
25 “The days are coming,” declares Yahweh,
“when I will punish all who are circumcised.
26 I will punish Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, and Moab.
I will punish all who shave the hair on their foreheads
or live in the desert.
Even though these nations are circumcised,
all Israel has uncircumcised hearts.”
Peter and John’s Trial in Front of the Jewish Council
4 Some priests, the officer in charge of the temple guards, and some Sadducees approached Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 These religious authorities were greatly annoyed. Peter and John were teaching the people and spreading the message that the dead will come back to life through Yeshua. 3 So the temple guards arrested them. Since it was already evening, they put Peter and John in jail until the next day.
4 But many of those who had heard the message became believers, so the number of men who believed grew to about 5,000.
5 The next day the Jewish rulers, the leaders, and the experts in Moses’ Teachings met in Jerusalem. 6 The chief priest Annas, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and the rest of the chief priest’s family were present. 7 They made Peter and John stand in front of them and then asked, “By what power or in whose name did you do this?”
8 Then Peter, because he was filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and leaders of the people, 9 today you are cross-examining us about the good we did for a crippled man. You want to know how he was made well. 10 You and all the people of Israel must understand that this man stands in your presence with a healthy body because of the power of Yeshua Christ from Nazareth. You crucified Yeshua Christ, but God has brought him back to life. 11 He is the stone that the builders rejected, the stone that has become the cornerstone. 12 No one else can save us. Indeed, we can be saved only by the power of the one named Yeshua and not by any other person.”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.