Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁹ During the night, Paul had a vision of someone from Macedonia who was standing there and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” ¹⁰ After Paul had seen the vision, we began looking for a way to go to Macedonia. We were sure that God had called us to preach the good news there.

Lydia Becomes a Follower of the Lord

¹¹ We sailed straight from Troas to Samothrace, and the next day we arrived in Neapolis. ¹² From there we went to Philippi, which is a Roman colony in the first district of Macedonia.^[a]

We spent several days in Philippi. ¹³ Then on the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to a place by the river, where we thought there would be a Jewish meeting place for prayer. We sat down and talked with the women who came. ¹⁴ One of them was Lydia, who was from the city of Thyatira and sold expensive purple cloth. She was a worshiper of the Lord God, and he made her willing to accept what Paul was saying. ¹⁵ Then after she and her family were baptized, she kept on begging us, “If you think I really do have faith in the Lord, come stay in my home.” Finally, we accepted her invitation.

(A psalm and a song for the music leader. Use with stringed instruments.)

Tell the Nations To Praise God

^10 (A) Then with the help of the Spirit, he took me to the top of a very high mountain. There he showed me the holy city of Jerusalem coming down from God in heaven.

²² I did not see a temple there. The Lord God All-Powerful and the Lamb were its temple. ^23 (A) And the city did not need the sun or the moon. The glory of God was shining on it, and the Lamb was its light.

^24 (B) Nations will walk by the light of that city, and kings will bring their riches there. ^25 (C) Its gates are always open during the day, and night never comes. ²⁶ The glorious treasures of nations will be brought into the city. ^27 (D) But nothing unworthy will be allowed to enter. No one who is dirty-minded or who tells lies will be there. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life^[a] will be in the city.

22 ^(E) The angel showed me a river that was crystal clear, and its waters gave life. The river came from the throne where God and the Lamb were seated. ^2 (F) Then it flowed down the middle of the city's main street. On each side of the river are trees^[b] that grow a different kind of fruit each month of the year. The fruit gives life, and the leaves are used as medicine to heal the nations.

^3 (G) God's curse will no longer be on the people of that city. He and the Lamb will be seated there on their thrones, and its people will worship God ^4 (H) and will see him face to face. God's name will be written on the foreheads of the people. ^5 (I) Never again will night appear, and no one who lives there will ever need a lamp or the sun. The Lord God will be their light, and they will rule forever.

²³ Jesus replied:

If anyone loves me, they will obey me. Then my Father will love them, and we will come to them and live in them. ²⁴ But anyone who doesn't love me, won't obey me. What they have heard me say doesn't really come from me, but from the Father who sent me.

²⁵ I have told you these things while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the Holy Spirit will come and help^[a] you, because the Father will send the Spirit to take my place. The Spirit will teach you everything and will remind you of what I said while I was with you.

²⁷ I give you peace, the kind of peace only I can give. It isn't like the peace this world can give. So don't be worried or afraid.

²⁸ You have already heard me say I am going and I will also come back to you. If you really love me, you should be glad I am going back to the Father, because he is greater than I am.

²⁹ I am telling you this before I leave, so when it does happen, you will have faith in me.

Jesus Heals a Sick Man

5 Later, Jesus went to Jerusalem for another Jewish festival.^{[a] 2} In the city near the sheep gate was a pool with five porches, and its name in Hebrew was Bethzatha.^[b]

^3-4 Many sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed people were lying close to the pool.^[c]

⁵ Beside the pool was a man who had been sick for 38 years. ⁶ When Jesus saw the man and realized that he had been crippled for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to be healed?”

⁷ The man answered, “Sir, I don't have anyone to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up. I try to get in, but someone else always gets there first.”

⁸ Jesus told him, “Pick up your mat and walk!” ⁹ Right then the man was healed. He picked up his mat and started walking around. The day on which this happened was a Sabbath.