Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The Voice of the Lord in the Storm

29 Give to the Lord, O sons of the powerful. Give to the Lord shining-greatness and strength. ² Give to the Lord the honor that belongs to Him. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holy living.

³ The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of shining-greatness thunders. The Lord is over many waters. ⁴ The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is great. ⁵ The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. Yes, the Lord breaks in pieces the tall cedars of Lebanon. ⁶ He makes Lebanon jump like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild bull. ⁷ The voice of the Lord sends out lightning. ⁸ The voice of the Lord shakes the desert. The Lord shakes the desert of Kadesh. ⁹ The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth, and tears away the leaves of the trees. And in His holy house everything says, “Honor to God!”

¹⁰ The Lord sat as King over the flood. The Lord sits as King forever. ¹¹ The Lord will give strength to His people. The Lord will give His people peace.

The Special Box Brought into the House of God

² Then Solomon gathered to Jerusalem the leaders of Israel, and all the heads of the families, the leaders of the fathers’ houses of the sons of Israel. He called them together to bring up the special box with the Law of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. ³ All the men of Israel gathered together in front of the king at the special supper in the seventh month. ⁴ All the leaders of Israel came, and the Levites took up the special box of God. ⁵ They brought up the special box of God, the meeting tent, and all the holy objects that were in the tent. The religious leaders and the Levites brought them up. ⁶ Then King Solomon and all the people of Israel who were with him were in front of the special box of God. There they gave on the altar in worship so many sheep and oxen that they could not be numbered. ⁷ The religious leaders brought the special box of the Lord to its place. They brought it into the most holy place in the house, under the wings of the cherubim. ⁸ The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the special box of God. They made a covering over the special box and its long pieces of wood used for carrying. ⁹ The pieces of wood for the special box of God were so long that their ends could be seen in front of the holy place. But they could not be seen outside. They are there to this day. ¹⁰ There was nothing in the special box of God except the two stone writings which Moses put there at Horeb. It was there that the Lord made an agreement with the people of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.

¹¹ Then the religious leaders came out of the holy place. All the religious leaders who were there had set themselves apart, without thinking of how they were divided. ¹² All the Levite singers, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and brothers, were dressed in fine linen. They stood east of the altar, with timbrels and different kinds of harps. With them were 120 religious leaders sounding horns. ¹³ Those who sounded the horns and the singers made themselves heard as with one voice, praising and thanking the Lord. They sang in a loud voice, with horns, and timbrels, and other objects for making music. They praised the Lord, saying, “He is good. For His loving-kindness lasts forever.” Then the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud. ¹⁴ The religious leaders could not stand to do their work because of the cloud. For the shining-greatness of the Lord filled the house of God.

¹⁹ “King Agrippa, I obeyed what I saw from heaven. ²⁰ First I told what I saw to those in Damascus and then in Jerusalem. I told it through all the country of Judea. I even preached to the people who are not Jews that they should be sorry for their sins and turn from them to God. I told them they should do things to show they are sorry for their sins.

²¹ “That is why the Jews took hold of me in the house of God and tried to kill me. ²² God has helped me. To this day I have told these things to the people who are well-known and to those not known. I have told only what the early preachers and Moses said would happen. ²³ It was that Christ must suffer and be the first to rise from the dead. He would give light to the Jews and to the other nations.”

²⁴ As Paul was speaking for himself, Festus cried out in a loud voice, “Paul, you are crazy! All your learning keeps you from thinking right!” ²⁵ Paul said, “Most respected Festus, I am not crazy. I am speaking the truth! ²⁶ The king knows about all this. I am free to speak to him in plain words. Nothing I have said is new to him. These things happened where everyone saw them. ²⁷ King Agrippa, do you believe the writings of the early preachers? I know that you believe them.”

²⁸ Then Agrippa said to Paul, “In this short time you have almost proven to me that I should become a Christian!” ²⁹ Paul said, “My prayer to God is that you and all who hear me today would be a Christian as I am, only not have these chains!”