Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 145[a]
Praise of the Divine Majesty
1 [b]Praise. Of David.
I will extol you, my God and King;
I will bless your name[c] forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless you
and praise your name forever and ever.[d]
3 [e]Great is the Lord and worthy of the highest praise;
no one can even begin to comprehend his greatness.[f]
4 Each generation will praise your works[g] to the next
and proclaim your mighty deeds.
5 People will proclaim the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and I will meditate on your wonderful works.
17 [a]The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and merciful in everything he does.[b]
18 The Lord is near to all who call out to him,
to all who call out to him sincerely.[c]
19 He satisfies the desires of all who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.[d]
20 The Lord watches over all who love him,
but he will completely destroy all the wicked.[e]
21 May my mouth declare the praise of the Lord,
and may every creature[f] bless his holy name
forever and ever.
Rebuilding a People for God[a]
Chapter 1
Be Converted to Me.[b] 1 In the second year of Darius, in the eighth month, this word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo:
2 The Lord was greatly angered at your ancestors. 3 Therefore, say to the people: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. 4 Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the prophets of that time proclaimed. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Forsake your evil ways and your evil deeds. But they refused to listen or to pay attention to me, says the Lord.
5 Where are your ancestors now? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6 As for my words and my decrees which I entrusted to my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your ancestors? As a result, they repented and said, “The Lord of hosts has treated us as he had determined to do, according to what our lives and our deeds deserve.”
Renewal of the Holy City[c]
The Four Horsemen.[d] 7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo.
Zechariah related: 8 During the night I had a vision in which a man was riding a red horse among the myrtle trees in a glen. Behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses. 9 “What are these, sir?” I asked, and the angel who was conversing with me said, “I will show you what they are.”
10 The man standing among the myrtle trees said, “They are the ones whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.” 11 Then they in turn spoke to the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have been patrolling the earth, and the entire earth is tranquil and at peace.”
12 Then the angel of the Lord asked, “O Lord of hosts, how long will you withhold your mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah who have been the object of your wrath for the last seventy years?” 13 Thereupon, the Lord replied with kind and comforting words to the angel who had talked with me.
14 The angel who was talking with me then said to me: Proclaim this message. Thus says the Lord of hosts: I feel very protective toward Jerusalem and Zion, 15 but I am deeply angry with the nations that feel complacent and secure. Previously I was angry only to a certain extent, but they added to the disaster.
16 Therefore, says the Lord, I will return to Jerusalem with compassion, and there is where my house will be rebuilt, says the Lord of hosts, and the measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem. 17 Proclaim in addition: Thus says the Lord of hosts: My cities will once again overflow with prosperity. The Lord will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.
22 Paul Claims His Roman Citizenship.[a] Up to this point, the crowd had listened to him, but then they raised their voices and began to shout, “Rid the earth of this man! He should not be allowed to live.” 23 And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, 24 the commander ordered that he be brought into the barracks and gave instructions that he be interrogated while being scourged to discover the reason for this outcry against him.
25 But when they had stretched him out and bound him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing nearby, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and who has not been condemned?” 26 When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and asked, “What are you going to do? This man is a Roman citizen.”
27 Then the commander came to him and inquired, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he answered, “Yes.” 28 The commander responded, “It cost me a great deal of money to acquire this citizenship.” Paul replied, “But I was born a citizen.” 29 Then those who were about to interrogate him withdrew hurriedly, and the commander himself was alarmed when he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had put him in chains.
30 Paul’s First Trial—before the Sanhedrin.[b] Since the commander wanted to learn with certitude what Paul was being accused of by the Jews, he released him on the following day and ordered the chief priests and the entire Sanhedrin to meet. Then he brought Paul down and had him stand before them.
Chapter 23
1 Paul looked intently at the Sanhedrin and said, “Brethren, to this very day, I have conducted myself before God with a perfectly clear conscience.” 2 At this, the high priest Ananias[c] ordered his attendants to strike him on the mouth.
3 Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! How can you sit there to judge me according to the Law and then in defiance of the Law order me to be struck?” 4 The attendants said, “Do you dare to insult God’s high priest?” 5 Paul replied, “Brethren, I did not realize that he was the high priest. It is clearly written: ‘You shall not curse the ruler of your people.’ ”
6 Well aware that some of them were Sadducees and the others were Pharisees, Paul called out in the Sanhedrin, “Brethren, I am a Pharisee and the son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning our hope in the resurrection of the dead.” 7 When he said this, a dispute ensued between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8 For the Sadducees hold that there is no resurrection and that there are no angels or spirits, while the Pharisees believe in all three.
9 Then a great uproar arose, and some of the scribes belonging to the party of the Pharisees stood up and forcefully stated, “We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has really spoken to him?” 10 When a violent dissension arose, the commander was fearful that Paul would be torn to pieces. He ordered the soldiers to go down, seize him from their midst, and bring him into the barracks.
11 On the following night, the Lord appeared to Paul and said, “Keep up your courage! For just as you have borne witness to me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome.”
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