Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Prayer of an Old Man

71 I have a safe place in you, O Lord. Let me never be ashamed. ² Because You are right and good, take me out of trouble. Turn Your ear to me and save me. ³ Be a rock to me where I live, where I may always come and where I will be safe. For You are my rock and my safe place. ⁴ O my God, take me from the hand of the sinful, from the hand of the wrong-doer and the man without pity. ⁵ For You are my hope, O Lord God. You are my trust since I was young. ⁶ You have kept me safe from birth. It was You Who watched over me from the day I was born. My praise is always of You.

The End of Josiah’s Rule

²⁰ After all this, when Josiah had made the house of the Lord ready, King Neco of Egypt came up to make war at Carchemish on the Euphrates. And Josiah went out to fight against him. ²¹ But Neco sent men to him, saying, “What have we to do with each other, O King of Judah? I am not coming against you today but against the house with which I am at war, and God has told me to hurry. Do not stand in the way of God Who is with me, or He will destroy you.” ²² But Josiah would not turn away from him. He made himself to look like someone else, so he could fight against him. He did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to make war on the Plain of Megiddo. ²³ And the bowmen shot King Josiah. The king told his servants, “Take me away, for I am hurt.” ²⁴ So his servants took him out of the war-wagon and carried him in his second war-wagon, and brought him to Jerusalem. And there he died. He was buried in the graves of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem were filled with sorrow for Josiah. ²⁵ Then Jeremiah sang a song of sorrow for Josiah. And all the male and female singers speak about Josiah in their songs of sorrow to this day. They made them a law in Israel, and they are written in the Lamentations. ²⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his good works as written in the Law of the Lord, ²⁷ and his acts, first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

Christians in Ephesus Are Filled with the Holy Spirit

19 While Apollos was in the city of Corinth, Paul went through the hill country to get to the city of Ephesus. He found a few followers there. ² He asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you put your trust in Christ?” They said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” ³ He asked them, “How were you baptized?” They answered, “The way John baptized.” ⁴ Paul said, “John baptized those who were sorry for their sins and turned from them. He told the people to put their trust in Jesus Who was coming later.”

⁵ The people there were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus when they heard this. ⁶ When Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them. They started to talk in special sounds and to speak God’s Word. ⁷ There were about twelve men.

Paul Preaches in a Place of Worship and in a School in Ephesus

⁸ For three months Paul went into the Jewish place of worship and spoke without fear. He taught them things about the holy nation of God. ⁹ Some let their hearts grow hard. They would not put their trust in Christ. These spoke against the Christian religion in front of other people. Then Paul took the followers away from the others. He taught them each day in the school of Tyrannus. ¹⁰ He did this for two years. All the Jews and the Greeks in the countries of Asia heard the Word of the Lord.