Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
He Watches Over You
Psalm 121
1 A Song of Ascents.
I will lift up my eyes to the mountains—
from where does my help come?
2 My help comes from Adonai,
Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip.
Your Keeper will not slumber.
4 Behold, the Keeper of Israel
neither slumbers nor sleeps.
5 Adonai is your Keeper.
Adonai is your shadow at your right hand.
6 The sun will not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 Adonai will protect you from all evil.
He will guard your life.
8 Adonai will watch over your coming and your going
from this time forth and forevermore.
26 Above the expanse over their heads was something like a throne, resembling a sapphire stone. Above the shape of the throne was a figure of human appearance. 27 From what appeared as his waist upward, I saw a glowing metal, looking like a fire encased in a frame. From what was like his waist down, I saw the appearance of fire radiating around him. 28 Like the appearance of the rainbow[a] in the cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the radiance. It was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Adonai. I saw it, fell upon my face, and heard the voice of the One who was speaking.
A Rebellious House
2 Then He said to me: “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.”
Defense Before King Agrippa
26 Agrippa said to Paul, “It is permitted for you to speak for yourself.”
Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense. 2 “Concerning all I am accused of by the Judean leaders, I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that it is before you that I am about to make my defense today— 3 since you are especially knowledgeable about all Jewish customs and issues. Therefore I beg you to listen patiently to me.
4 “Now all the Jewish people have known my manner of life ever since my youth, starting from the beginning in my own nation and also in Jerusalem. 5 They have known about me for a long time—if they were willing to testify—that according to the strictest sect of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee.
6 “Yet now I stand here being judged for the hope in the promise made by God to our fathers. 7 It is the promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jewish people, O King! 8 Why is it judged incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?
9 “In fact, I myself thought it was necessary to do many things in opposition to the name of Yeshua ha-Natzrati. 10 And that is what I did in Jerusalem. Not only did I lock up many of the kedoshim in prisons by the authority I received from the ruling kohanim, but I cast my vote against them when they were being condemned to death. 11 I tried to cause them to blaspheme by punishing them often in the synagogues. In furious rage against them, I persecuted them even in foreign cities.
12 “While journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the ruling kohanim, 13 at midday, O King, I saw on the road a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those traveling with me. 14 When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against goads!’
15 “Then I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’
“And the Lord said, ‘I am Yeshua—whom you are persecuting. 16 But get up, and stand on your feet.[a] For I have appeared to you for this purpose—to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things you have seen as well as to the things I will yet reveal to you. 17 I will rescue you[b] from your own people, and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you, 18 to open their eyes—so they may turn from darkness to light[c] and from the power of satan to God, that they may receive release from sins as well as a place among those who are made holy through trusting in Me.’
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.