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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with sequential stories told across multiple weeks.
Duration: 1245 days
International Standard Version (ISV)
Version
Acts 2:1-21

The Coming of the Holy Spirit

When the day of Pentecost was being celebrated,[a] all of them were together in one place. Suddenly, a sound like the roar of a mighty windstorm came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw tongues like flames[b] of fire that separated, and one rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in foreign[c] languages as the Spirit gave them that ability.

Now devout Jews from every nation on earth[d] were living in Jerusalem. When that sound came, a crowd quickly gathered, startled because each one heard the disciples[e] speaking in his own language. Stunned and amazed, they asked, “All of these people who are speaking are Galileans, aren’t they? So how is it that each one of us hears them speaking in his own native language:[f] Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, 10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the district of Libya near Cyrene, Jewish and proselyte visitors from Rome, 11 Cretans, and Arabs, listening to them talk in our own languages about the great deeds of God?”

12 All of them continued to be stunned and puzzled, and they kept asking one another, “What can this mean?”

13 But others kept saying in derision, “They’re drunk on sweet wine!”

Peter Addresses the Crowd

14 Then Peter stood up among the eleven apostles[g] and raised his voice to address them:

“Men of Judea and everyone living in Jerusalem! You must understand something, so pay close attention to my words. 15 These men are not drunk as you suppose, for it’s only nine o’clock in the morning.[h] 16 Rather, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

17 ‘In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on everyone.[i]
Your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
    your young men will see visions,
        and your old men will dream dreams.
18 In those days I will even pour out my Spirit
    on my slaves, men and women alike,
        and they will prophesy.
19 I will display wonders in the sky above
    and signs on the earth below:
        blood, fire, and clouds of smoke.
20 The sun will become dark,
    and the moon turn to blood,
        before the coming of the great and glorious Day of the Lord.[j]
21 Then whoever calls on the name of the Lord[k] will be saved.’[l]

Numbers 11:24-30

24 So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. He gathered 70 men from the elders of the people and stationed them around the tent. 25 The Lord came down in a cloud, spoke to Moses,[a] and made an apportionment from the spirit who rested on him to the 70 elders. When the spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but that was it.[b]

26 Now two men had remained in camp. One was named Eldad and the other was named Medad. When the spirit rested on them, since they were among those who were listed but had not gone out to the tent, they stayed behind[c] and prophesied in the camp. 27 A young man ran and reported to Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!”

28 In response, Nun’s son Joshua, Moses’ attendant and one of his choice men, exclaimed, “My master Moses! Stop them!”

29 “Are you jealous on account of me?” Moses asked in reply. “I wish all of the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!” 30 Then Moses—that is, he and the elders of Israel—returned to the camp.

Psalm 104:24-34

24 How numerous are your works, Lord!
    You have made them all wisely;
        the earth is filled with your creations.[a]
25 There is the deep and wide sea,
    teeming with numberless creatures,
        living things small and great.
26 There, the ships pass through;
    Leviathan, which you created, frolics in it.

27 All of them look to you
    to provide them[b] their food at the proper time.
28 They receive what you give them;
    when you open your hand,
        they are filled with good things.
29 When you withdraw your favor,[c]
    they are disappointed;
Take away their breath,
    and[d] they die[e] and return to dust.
30 When you send your spirit,[f] they are[g] created,
    and you replenish the surface of the earth.

31 May the glory of the Lord last forever;
    may the Lord rejoice in his works!
32 He looks at the earth and it shakes;
    he touches the mountains and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the Lord with my whole being;[h]
    I will sing to my God continually!
34 May my thoughts be pleasing to him;
    indeed, I will rejoice in the Lord!

Psalm 104:35

35 May sinners disappear from the land
    and the wicked live no longer.

Bless the Lord, my soul! Hallelujah!

1 Corinthians 12:3-13

For this reason I want you to be aware that no one who is speaking by God’s Spirit can say, “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of ministries, but the same Lord. There are varieties of results, but it is the same God who produces all the results in everyone.

To each person has been given the ability to manifest the Spirit for the common good. To one has been given a message of wisdom by the Spirit; to another the ability to speak with knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit; 10 to another miraculous results; to another prophecy; to another the ability to distinguish between spirits; to another various kinds of languages; and to another the interpretation of languages. 11 But one and the same Spirit produces all these results and gives what he wants to each person.

The Unity and Diversity of Spiritual Gifts

12 For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, form a single body, so it is with the Messiah.[a] 13 For by[b] one Spirit all of us—Jews and Greeks, slaves and free—were baptized into one body and were all privileged to drink from one Spirit.

Acts 2:1-21

The Coming of the Holy Spirit

When the day of Pentecost was being celebrated,[a] all of them were together in one place. Suddenly, a sound like the roar of a mighty windstorm came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw tongues like flames[b] of fire that separated, and one rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in foreign[c] languages as the Spirit gave them that ability.

Now devout Jews from every nation on earth[d] were living in Jerusalem. When that sound came, a crowd quickly gathered, startled because each one heard the disciples[e] speaking in his own language. Stunned and amazed, they asked, “All of these people who are speaking are Galileans, aren’t they? So how is it that each one of us hears them speaking in his own native language:[f] Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, 10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the district of Libya near Cyrene, Jewish and proselyte visitors from Rome, 11 Cretans, and Arabs, listening to them talk in our own languages about the great deeds of God?”

12 All of them continued to be stunned and puzzled, and they kept asking one another, “What can this mean?”

13 But others kept saying in derision, “They’re drunk on sweet wine!”

Peter Addresses the Crowd

14 Then Peter stood up among the eleven apostles[g] and raised his voice to address them:

“Men of Judea and everyone living in Jerusalem! You must understand something, so pay close attention to my words. 15 These men are not drunk as you suppose, for it’s only nine o’clock in the morning.[h] 16 Rather, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

17 ‘In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on everyone.[i]
Your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
    your young men will see visions,
        and your old men will dream dreams.
18 In those days I will even pour out my Spirit
    on my slaves, men and women alike,
        and they will prophesy.
19 I will display wonders in the sky above
    and signs on the earth below:
        blood, fire, and clouds of smoke.
20 The sun will become dark,
    and the moon turn to blood,
        before the coming of the great and glorious Day of the Lord.[j]
21 Then whoever calls on the name of the Lord[k] will be saved.’[l]

John 20:19-23

Jesus Appears to the Disciples(A)

19 It was the evening of the first day of the week,[a] and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders.[b] Jesus came and stood among them. He told them, “Peace be with you.” 20 After saying this, he showed them his hands and his side, and when they saw the Lord, the disciples were overjoyed. 21 Jesus told them again, “Peace be with you. Just as the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and told them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive people’s sins, they are forgiven. If you retain people’s sins, they are retained.”

John 7:37-39

Rivers of Living Water

37 On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and shouted, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me[a] and drink! 38 The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have rivers of living water flowing from his heart.” 39 Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who were believing in him were to receive, because the Spirit[b] was not yet present[c] and Jesus had not yet been glorified.

International Standard Version (ISV)

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