Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 125
Mount Zion Cannot Be Shaken
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A song of the ascents.
Those Who Trust in the Lord Cannot Be Shaken
1 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion.
It cannot be shaken. It will stand forever.
2 As Jerusalem is surrounded by mountains,
so the Lord surrounds his people from now to eternity.
3 No, the scepter of wickedness will not rest
on the land assigned to the righteous,
so that the righteous do not reach out their hands toward evil.
4 Do good, O Lord, for the good
and for those who are upright in their hearts.
5 But those who turn to their crooked ways—
the Lord will send them away with the evildoers.
Peace be on Israel.
9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask me for whatever I can do for you before I am taken from you.”
Then Elisha said, “Let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.”
10 He said, “You have asked for a difficult thing. If you see me being taken from you, it will surely be yours. But if not, then it will not.”
11 While they were walking and talking, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire came and separated them. So Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. 12 Elisha was watching and crying out, “My father! My father! Israel’s chariot and its charioteers!” Then he did not see him anymore. He grabbed his clothing, and he ripped it into two pieces.
13 Then he picked up Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen from him. He returned and stood at the edge of the Jordan. 14 He took Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen from him, and he struck the water and said, “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah? Yes, where is he?” As soon as he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left so that Elisha could cross.
15 When the sons of the prophets, who were watching him from Jericho, saw this, they said, “Elijah’s spirit is resting on Elisha.” They went to meet him and bowed down to the ground in front of him.
16 They said to him, “Look, here are your servants, fifty strong men. Please, let them go and search for your master in case the Spirit of the Lord lifted him up and then set him down on one of the mountains or in one of the valleys.”
But he said, “Don’t send them.”
17 But they urged him to the point of embarrassment, so he said, “Send them.” So they sent the fifty men. They searched for three days, but they did not find him.
18 When they returned to Elisha, he was staying in Jericho. He said to them, “Didn’t I say to you, ‘Don’t go’?”
Elisha Demonstrates God’s Power
19 Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Look, the site of the city is good, as my lord can see, but the water is bad, and the land deprives people of children.”
20 So he said, “Bring me a new dish and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him.
21 Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt in. He said, “This is what the Lord says. I have healed this water. No longer will death or loss of children come from it.” 22 So the water has remained healed to this day, according to the word which Elisha spoke.
17 “Now brothers,[a] I know that you acted in ignorance, just like your leaders. 18 But in this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through the mouth of all the prophets: that his Christ would suffer. 19 Therefore repent and return to have your sins wiped out, 20 so that refreshing times may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you. 21 He must receive heaven[b] until the times when everything will be restored, as God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.
22 “Moses said to the fathers:[c]
The Lord your[d] God will raise up for you a Prophet from your brothers who is like me. Listen to everything he tells you. 23 And this is what will happen: Every person who does not listen to that Prophet will be completely cut off from the people.[e]
24 “Also, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have talked about these days. 25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with our[f] fathers when he said to Abraham:
In your seed[g] all the families of the earth will be blessed.[h]
26 “God raised up his Servant and sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you away from your wicked ways.”
On Trial for an Act of Kindness
4 As Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the commander of the temple guard, and the Sadducees approached them. 2 They were very upset because Peter and John were teaching the people and proclaiming the resurrection from the dead in connection with Jesus. 3 They arrested them and put them in jail until the next day because it was already evening.
4 But many of those who had heard the message believed, and the number of the men increased to about five thousand.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.