Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Song of Praise
138 I will give You thanks with all my heart. I will sing praises to You in front of the gods. 2 I will bow down toward Your holy house. And I will give thanks to Your name for Your loving-kindness and Your truth. For You have honored Your Word because of what Your name is. 3 You answered me on the day I called. You gave me strength in my soul.
4 O Lord, all the kings of the earth will give thanks to You when they have heard the words of Your mouth. 5 And they will sing of the ways of the Lord. For the shining beauty of the Lord is great. 6 For even if the Lord is honored, He thinks about those who have no pride. But He knows the proud from far away. 7 Even if I walk into trouble, You will keep my life safe. You will put out Your hand against the anger of those who hate me. And Your right hand will save me. 8 The Lord will finish the work He started for me. O Lord, Your loving-kindness lasts forever. Do not turn away from the works of Your hands.
Joshua Takes over from Moses
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go up to this mountain of Abarim, and see the land I have given to the people of Israel. 13 When you have seen it, you will be buried with your people as Aaron your brother was. 14 For you went against My Word when the people complained in the Desert of Zin. You should have honored Me as holy at the waters in front of their eyes.” (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the Desert of Zin.)
15 Moses said to the Lord, 16 “May the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, choose a man to lead the people. 17 Let this man go out and come in before them. Let him lead them out and bring them in. Then the people of the Lord may not be like sheep which have no shepherd.” 18 So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him. 19 Have him stand in front of Eleazar the religious leader and in front of all the people. Let them see you give him the work he must do. 20 Give some of your power to him so all the people of Israel will obey him. 21 He will stand in front of Eleazar the religious leader, who will learn My will for him by using the Urim. At his word, both he and all the people of Israel will go out and at his word, they will come in.” 22 Moses did just as the Lord told him. He took Joshua and had him stand in front of Eleazar the religious leader, and in front of all the people. 23 Then he laid his hands on him and gave him the work he must do, just as the Lord had said through Moses.
Saul Comes to Jerusalem
26 When Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the followers. But they were afraid of him. They did not believe he was a true follower of Jesus. 27 Then Barnabas took him to the missionaries. He told them that Saul had seen the Lord on the road. He told them also how the Lord had spoken to Saul and how he had preached without fear in Damascus in the name of Jesus. 28 After that he was with them going in and out of Jerusalem. 29 He preached without fear in the name of the Lord. He talked and argued with the Jews who spoke the Greek language. They kept trying to kill him. 30 When the followers heard this, they took him down to the city of Caesarea. From there they sent him to the city of Tarsus.
31 Then the church through all the countries of Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace for awhile. The church was made strong and it was given comfort by the Holy Spirit. It honored the Lord. More people were added to the church.
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