Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

David’s Psalm of praise.

Aleph

¹ ¶ I will extol thee, my God, my king, and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.

Beth

² Each day will I bless thee, and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.

Gimel

³ Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.

Daleth

⁴ One generation shall praise thy works to another and shall declare thy mighty acts.

He

⁵ I will speak of the beauty of the glory of thy majesty and of thy wondrous works.

Tzaddi

¹⁷ The LORD is righteous in all his ways and merciful in all his works.

Koph

¹⁸ The LORD is near unto all those that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.

Resh

¹⁹ He will fulfil the desire of those that fear him; he also will hear their cry and will save them.

Schin

²⁰ The LORD preserves all those that love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.

Tau

²¹ My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD, and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.

1 ¶ In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying,

² The LORD has been sore displeased with your fathers.

³ Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus hath the LORD of the hosts said; Turn unto me, said the LORD of the hosts, and I will turn unto you, said the LORD of the hosts.

⁴ Do not be as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus hath the LORD of the hosts said; Turn now from your evil ways and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, said the LORD.

⁵ Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?

⁶ But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my slaves the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? Therefore they returned from captivity and said, Like as the LORD of the hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways and according to our doings, so has he dealt with us.

⁷ ¶ Upon the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying,

⁸ I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him there were red horses, speckled, and white.

⁹ Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will show thee who these are.

¹⁰ And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are those whom the LORD has sent to walk to and fro through the earth.

¹¹ And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees and said, We have walked to and fro through the land, and, behold, all the earth sits still and is at rest.

¹² Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of the hosts, when wilt thou have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these seventy years?

¹³ And the LORD answered good words unto the angel that talked with me, words of consolation.

¹⁴ So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of the hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.

¹⁵ And I am very sore displeased with the Gentiles that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.

¹⁶ Therefore thus hath the LORD said, I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies; my house shall be built in her, saith the LORD of the hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.

¹⁷ Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of the hosts, My cities through abundance of good shall yet be widened; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem.

²² ¶ And they gave him audience unto this word and then lifted up their voices and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should live.

²³ And as they cried out and cast off their clothes and threw dust into the air,

²⁴ the tribunal commanded him to be brought into the fortress and bade that he should be examined by scourging that he might know why they cried out so against him.

²⁵ And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman and uncondemned?

²⁶ When the centurion heard that, he went and told the tribunal, saying, Take heed what thou doest, for this man is a Roman.

²⁷ Then the tribunal came and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yes.

²⁸ And the tribunal answered, With a great sum I obtained this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born.

²⁹ Then straightway those who should have tormented him departed from him, and the tribunal was also afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman and because he had bound him.

³⁰ On the next day, because he wanted to know of certainty the cause for which he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands and commanded the princes of the priests and all their council to appear and brought Paul down and set him before them.

23 ¶ Then Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.

² And the prince of the priests, Ananias, commanded those that stood by him to smite him on the mouth.

³ Then Paul said unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whitewashed wall, for dost thou sit to judge me after the law and command me to be smitten contrary to the law?

⁴ And those that stood by said, Dost thou revile God’s high priest?

⁵ Then Paul said, I did not know, brethren, that he was the prince of the priests, for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.

⁶ ¶ But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, and of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.

⁷ And when he had so said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the multitude was divided.

⁸ For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees confess both.

⁹ And there arose a great cry; and the scribes that were of the Pharisees’ part arose and strove, saying, We find no evil in this man, but if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God.

¹⁰ And when there arose a great dissension, the tribunal, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and to take him by force from among them and to bring him into the fortress.

¹¹ And the night following the Lord stood by him and said, Be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou also bear witness at Rome.