Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A song to sing as we climb.
The Lord has done great things for us![a]
126 When the Lord turned us round,
so that we enjoyed a good life in Zion again,
we thought that we were dreaming!
2 At that time, we laughed a lot.
We shouted because we were so happy!
People in other countries said to each other,
‘The Lord has done great things for them!’
3 Yes, the Lord has done great things for us.
So we are very happy.
4 Lord, please bless us like before.
That will be like streams of water that return to the desert.[b]
5 When people went out to plant their seeds,
they were crying.
But they will be happy when they bring in the harvest!
6 People were weeping when they took their bags of seeds to plant.[c]
But when they carry their crops back home,
they will shout because they are so happy![d]
The people pray to God
9 On the 24th day of the same month, the Israelite people met together. They did not eat or drink. They wore sackcloth and they put dust on their heads.[a]
2 The Israelite people made themselves separate from foreign people. They stood up and they told God that they were sorry for their sins. They agreed that their ancestors had also done many bad things. 3 While the Israelites stood there, they read from the book of God's Law during a quarter of the day. During another quarter of the day they told the Lord their God about their sins and they worshipped him. 4 The Levites stood on some high steps. They called out in a loud voice to the Lord their God. Those Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Kenani. 5 Then the Levites (Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah) said, ‘Stand up and praise the Lord your God. He lives always and for ever.’
They said, ‘Your name is great and wonderful.[b] We praise you more than words could ever say. 6 Only you are the Lord. You made the sky and the heavens above the sky. You made all the stars, the earth and everything on it. You made the seas and everything in them. You give life to everything. The great crowd of angels in heaven bend down low to worship you.
7 You are the Lord God who chose Abram. You brought him out of Ur, in Babylonia. You changed his name to be Abraham. 8 You knew that Abraham trusted you, so you made a covenant with him. You promised to give the land of Canaan to his descendants. That was the country where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites lived. You have done what you promised to do, because you are righteous.
Jesus chooses 12 men
12 One day Jesus went up a mountain to pray. He remained there all night and he was praying to God. 13 In the morning, he asked all his disciples to come to him. Then he chose 12 of them and he called them his apostles.[a] These are their names:
14 Simon (Jesus gave him the name ‘Peter’),
Andrew (he was Simon's brother),
James,
John,
Philip,
Bartholomew,
15 Matthew,
Thomas,
James, the son of Alphaeus,
Simon the Zealot,
16 Judas, son of James,
Judas Iscariot, who later gave Jesus to his enemies.
Jesus teaches people
17 After Jesus had chosen these 12 men, they all came down the mountain. He stopped and he stood on a flat place. A large crowd of his disciples stood around him. There were also many people from Jerusalem, and from other towns of Judea, and from places on the coast near Tyre and Sidon. 18 These people had all come to hear Jesus teach. Those people who were ill wanted him to make them well. He also made well those people who had bad spirits. 19 All the people were trying to touch him, because he was using great power to make each person well.
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