Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 102
A Prayer of one afflicted, when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before the Lord.
1 Hear my prayer, O Lord,
and let my cry come unto You.
2 Do not hide Your face from me
in the day when I am in trouble;
incline Your ear to me;
in the day when I call answer me quickly.
3 For my days are consumed like smoke,
and my bones are burned as a furnace.
4 My heart is struck down and withered like grass,
so that I forget to eat my bread.
5 Because of the sound of my groaning
my bones cling to my skin.
6 I am like an owl of the wilderness,
like a screech owl of the desert.
7 I stay awake and am
as a sparrow alone upon the housetop.
8 My enemies reproach me all the day,
and those who taunt me curse my name.
9 For I have eaten ashes like bread
and mixed my drink with weeping,
10 because of Your indignation and Your wrath,
for You have lifted me up, and cast me down.
11 My days are like an evening shadow that vanishes,
and I wither away like grass.
12 But You, O Lord, shall endure forever enthroned
and Your reputation to all generations.
13 You shall arise, and have mercy upon Zion,
for the time to favor her,
indeed, the appointed time has come.
14 For Your servants take pleasure in her stones,
and have pity on her dust.
15 So the nations shall fear the name of the Lord,
and all the kings of the earth Your glory.
16 For the Lord shall build up Zion;
He shall appear in His glory.
17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute
and will not despise their prayer.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He will direct your paths.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord and depart from evil.
8 It will be health to your body,
and strength to your bones.
9 Honor the Lord with your substance,
and with the first fruits of all your increase;
10 so your barns will be filled with plenty,
and your presses will burst out with new wine.
11 My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
nor be weary of His correction;
12 for whom the Lord loves He corrects,
even as a father the son in whom he delights.
44 “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, telling Moses to make it as He had commanded, according to the pattern that he had seen, 45 which our fathers, having received it, brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out in front of our fathers until the days of David, 46 who found favor in the presence of God and asked to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built Him a house.
48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands. As the prophet says:
49 ‘Heaven is My throne,
and the earth is My footstool.
What house will you build for Me? says the Lord,
or what is the place of My rest?
50 Has not My hand made all these things?’[a]
51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets have your fathers not persecuted? They have even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the disposition of angels, but have not kept it.”
The Stoning of Stephen
54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.