Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Plea for Deliverance from Persecution
For the music director, according to The Lilies. Of David.[a]
69 Save me, O God,
because waters have come up to my neck.[b]
2 I sink in the mud of the deep, and there is no foothold.
I have come to watery depths,
and the torrent floods over me.
3 I am weary with my calling out; my throat is parched.
My eyes are exhausted in my waiting for my God.
4 More numerous than the hairs of my head
are those hating me without a cause.
Those who are destroying me—my enemies wrongfully[c]— are mighty.
What I did not steal, I then must restore.
5 O God, you yourself know[d] my foolishness,
and my guilty deeds are not hidden from you.
30 I will praise the name of God in song,
and magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 For Yahweh it will be better than an ox or bull,
horned and hoofed.[a]
32 The afflicted will see and rejoice.
O God seekers, let your heart revive,[b]
33 because Yahweh hears the needy
and does not despise his own who are prisoners.
34 Let heavens and earth praise him,
the seas and all that moves in them,
35 because God will save Zion
and build the cities of Judah,
that they may dwell there and possess it.
36 And the offspring of his servants will inherit it,
and those who love his name will abide in it.
Instructions for Making Anointing Oil and Incense
22 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 23 “And take for yourself top quality balsam oils, five hundred shekels of flowing myrrh, half as much—two hundred and fifty shekels of fragrant cinnamon, and two hundred and fifty shekels of fragrant reed, 24 and five hundred shekels of cassia, according to the sanctuary shekel, and a hin of olive oil. 25 And you will make it into holy anointing oil, a spice blend of a fragrant ointment the work of a perfumer; it will be holy anointing oil. 26 And you will anoint with it the tent of assembly and the ark of the testimony, 27 and the table and all its equipment and the lampstand and its equipment and the incense altar, 28 and the altar of burnt offering and all its equipment and the basin and its stand. 29 And you will consecrate them, and they will be most holy things; anyone who[a] touches them will be holy. 30 And you will anoint Aaron and his sons, and you will consecrate them to serve as priests for me.
31 “And you will speak to the Israelites,[b] saying, ‘This will be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. 32 It will not be poured on human flesh, and with its measurements[c] you will not make any like it; it is holy; it will be holy to you. 33 Anyone who compounds perfume like it and who puts it on a stranger will be cut off from his people.’”
34 And Yahweh said to Moses, “Take for yourself fragrant perfumes—stacte resin and onycha and galbanum—fragrant perfumes and pure frankincense, an equal part of each,[d] 35 and make it into a compound of incense, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure, holy. 36 And you will grind part of it to powder, and you will put part of it before the testimony in the tent of assembly where I will meet with you; it will be a most holy thing to you. 37 And the incense that you will make with its measurements[e] you will not make for yourselves; it will be holy to you for Yahweh. 38 Anyone who makes any like it to smell it will be cut off from his people.”
2 And when they[a] heard that he was addressing them in the Aramaic language, they became even more silent.[b] And he said, 3 “I am a Jewish man born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, educated according to the exactness of the law received from our fathers, being zealous for God, just as all of you are today. 4 I[c] persecuted this Way to the death, tying up and delivering to prison both men and women, 5 as indeed the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me, from whom also I received letters to the brothers in Damascus, and[d] was traveling there[e] to lead away those who were there also tied up to Jerusalem so that they could be punished.
Paul Tells of His Conversion on the Damascus Road
6 “And it happened that as[f] I was traveling and approaching Damascus around noon, suddenly a very bright light from heaven flashed around me, 7 and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ 8 And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene whom you are persecuting.’ 9 (Now those who were with me saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me.) 10 So I said, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and[g] proceed to Damascus, and there it will be told to you about all the things that have been appointed for you to do.’ 11 And as I could not see as a result of the brightness of that light, I arrived in Damascus led by the hand of those who were with me. 12 And a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who live there, 13 came to me and stood by me[h] and[i] said to me, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight!’ And at that same time I looked up at him and saw him.[j] 14 And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will, and to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth, 15 because you will be a witness for him[k] to all people of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now why are you delaying? Get up, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name!’
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