Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer for the King
72 O God, make the king right in what he decides. Make the king’s son right with You. 2 May he be right when he decides who is right and who is wrong and may he be fair to the poor. 3 Let mountains and hills bring peace to the people through what is right and good. 4 May he stand by those who are poor, save the children of those in need, and destroy the bad power over them.
5 May all the children-to-come fear You as long as the sun and the moon last. 6 May He come down like rain upon the cut grass, like rain that waters the earth. 7 In His days may all go well with those who are right and good. And may there be much peace until the moon is no more.
18 Honor and thanks be to the Lord God, the God of Israel, Who alone does great things. 19 And honor be to His great name forever. May the whole earth be filled with His shining-greatness. Let it be so.
2 In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and shining with greatness. The fruit of the earth will be the pride and the beauty of those of Israel who are still alive. 3 He who is left in Zion and stays in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been written down among the living in Jerusalem. 4 The Lord will wash away the sin of the daughters of Zion. He will wash away the blood that was shed in Jerusalem, by the spirit of punishment and the spirit of fire. 5 Then the Lord will cover the whole land of Mount Zion and her people with a cloud of smoke during the day, and a bright fire that shines during the night. The Lord’s shining-greatness will cover everything. 6 It will be a covering from the heat during the day and it will keep the people safe from the storm and the rain.
Matthias Is Chosen to Take the Place of Judas
12 The followers went back to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is close to Jerusalem. 13 When they came into the city, they went up to a room on the second floor where they stayed. The followers were Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Canaanite, and Judas the brother of James. 14 These all agreed as they prayed together. The women and Mary the mother of Jesus and His brothers were there.
15 On one of those days Peter got up in front of the followers. (There were about 120 people there.) He said, 16 “Men and brothers, it happened as the Holy Writings said it would happen which the Holy Spirit spoke through David. They told about Judas who would hand Jesus over to those who wanted to take Him. 17 Judas was one of our group and had a part in our work.
21 “The man to take the place of Judas should be one of these men who walked along with us when the Lord Jesus was with us. 22 He must have been with Jesus from the day He was baptized by John to the day He was taken up from us. So one of these should be added to our group who will tell others that he saw Jesus raised from the dead.”
23 They brought two men in front of them. They were Joseph, also called Barsabbas Justus, and Matthias. 24 Then the followers prayed, saying, “Lord, You know the hearts of all men. Show us which of these two men You have chosen. 25 He is to take the place of Judas in this work and be a missionary. Judas lost his place and went where he belonged because of sin.” 26 Then they drew names and the name of Matthias was chosen. He became one with the eleven missionaries.
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