Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Song of degrees.

¹ ¶ I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains, from whence cometh my help.

² My help comes from the LORD, who made the heavens and earth.

³ He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; he that keeps thee will not slumber.

⁴ Behold, he that keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.

⁶ The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.

⁷ The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil; he shall preserve thy soul.

⁸ The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

1 ¶ Now it came to pass at thirty years, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

² In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity,

³ the word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and there the hand of the LORD came upon him.

⁴ ¶ And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, and a great cloud, and a fire enfolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.

⁵ Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of man.

⁶ And each one had four faces, and four wings.

⁷ And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot; and they sparkled like the colour of highly burnished brass.

⁸ And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and their faces and their wings on all four sides.

⁹ With their wings they joined one to another; they did not return when they went; they went each one straight in the direction they were facing.

¹⁰ And the likeness of their faces was human faces; and lion faces, on the right side; and they four had ox faces on the left side; likewise they four had eagle faces.

¹¹ Thus were their faces; and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of each one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.

¹² And they went each one straight forward in the direction they were facing: wherever the Spirit directed them to go, they went; and they did not return when they went.

¹³ As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire and like the appearance of lit torches; the fire went up and down among the living creatures and the brightness of the fire; and out of the fire went forth lightning.

¹⁴ And the living creatures ran and turned as the appearance of lightnings.

¹⁵ ¶ Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold a wheel upon the earth with its four rims by the living creatures.

¹⁶ The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a stone of Tarsis or beryl; and they four had one likeness; and their appearance and their workmanship was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

¹⁷ When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they did not return when they went.

¹⁸ And their ribs were high and dreadful, and full of eyes round about them in all four.

¹⁹ And when the living creatures went, the wheels went with them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

²⁰ Wherever the spirit wished to go, they went; wherever the spirit directed them, the wheels also rose up after them: for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

²¹ When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up after them: for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

²² And over the heads of each living creature there appeared a heaven like a marvellous crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.

²³ And under the heaven their wings were straight, one toward the other: each one had two, and another two which covered their bodies.

²⁴ And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of many waters, as the voice of the Almighty, when they went; the voice of the word, as the voice of an army. When they stood, they let down their wings.

²⁵ And there was heard a voice from the heaven that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.

¹⁹ And when he had received food, he was comforted. Then Saul was certain days with the disciples who were at Damascus.

²⁰ And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

²¹ But all that heard him were amazed and said, Is not this he that destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem and came here for that intent that he might bring them bound unto the princes of the priests?

²² But Saul increased the more in strength and confounded the Jews who dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is the Christ.

²³ ¶ And as many days passed, the Jews took counsel among themselves to kill him;

²⁴ but their ambushes were understood by Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him.

²⁵ Then the disciples took him by night and let him down by the wall in a basket.

²⁶ And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he tried to join himself to the disciples; but they were all afraid of him and did not believe that he was a disciple.

²⁷ But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way and that he had spoken to him and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.

²⁸ And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem;

²⁹ and he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Greeks; but they went about to slay him,

³⁰ which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him forth to Tarsus.

³¹ Then the congregations {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} had rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria and were edified, walking in the fear of the Lord, and with the comfort of the Holy Spirit they were multiplied.