Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.
Blessed are the people he has chosen as his own.
13 The Lord looks down from heaven.
He sees all of Adam’s descendants.
14 From the place where he sits enthroned,
he looks down upon all who live on earth.
15 The one who formed their hearts
understands everything they do.
16 No king achieves a victory with a large army.
No warrior rescues himself by his own great strength.
17 Horses are not a guarantee for victory.
Their great strength cannot help someone escape.
18 The Lord’s eyes are on those who fear him,
on those who wait with hope for his mercy
19 to rescue their souls from death
and keep them alive during a famine.
20 We wait for the Lord.
He is our help and our shield.
21 In him our hearts find joy.
In his holy name we trust.
22 Let your mercy rest on us, O Lord,
since we wait with hope for you.
Israel at Mount Sinai
19 Two months after the Israelites left Egypt, they came to the desert of Sinai. 2 Israel had moved from Rephidim and had come into the desert of Sinai. They had set up camp there in front of the mountain.
3 Then Moses went up the mountain to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, “This is what you must say to the descendants of Jacob. Tell the Israelites, 4 ‘You have seen for yourselves what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to my mountain. 5 If you carefully obey me and are faithful to the terms of my promise,[a] then out of all the nations you will be my own special possession, even though the whole world is mine. 6 You will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation.’ These are the words you must speak to the Israelites.”
7 So Moses went down and called for the leaders of the people. He repeated to them all the words that the Lord had commanded him. 8 All the people answered together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.
9 The Lord said to Moses, “I am coming to you in a storm cloud so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always believe you.” Moses told the Lord what the people had said.
The Believers Are Filled with the Holy Spirit
2 When Pentecost, the fiftieth day after Passover, came, all the believers were together in one place. 2 Suddenly, a sound like a violently blowing wind came from the sky and filled the whole house where they were staying. 3 Tongues that looked like fire appeared to them. The tongues arranged themselves so that one came to rest on each believer. 4 All the believers were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak.
5 Devout Jewish men from every nation were living in Jerusalem. 6 They gathered when they heard the wind. Each person was startled to recognize his own dialect when the disciples spoke.
7 Stunned and amazed, the people in the crowd said, “All of these men who are speaking are Galileans. 8 Why do we hear them speaking in our native dialects? 9 We’re Parthians, Medes, and Elamites. We’re people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, 10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the country near Cyrene in Libya. We’re Jewish people, converts to Judaism, and visitors from Rome, 11 Crete, and Arabia. We hear these men in our own languages as they tell about the miracles that God has done.”
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