Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The 3rd Hallelujah Psalm^[a]

The people want to kill Jeremiah

26 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah at the time when Josiah's son Jehoiakim became king of Judah. ² The Lord said, ‘Go and stand in the yard of the Lord's temple. People come from all the towns in Judah to worship the Lord in his temple. Speak to them. Tell them everything that I command you to say. Do not leave out even one word. ³ Perhaps they will listen to what you say. Then they may stop living in the evil way that they do now. If they change how they live, I will not punish them for their sins, as I had promised to do. ⁴ Tell them that the Lord says this: “You must obey me. I have given you my laws that tell you how you should live. ⁵ You must listen to the messages that my servants the prophets tell you. I have sent them to speak to you many times, but you have not listened to them. ⁶ So if you do not obey me, I will destroy this temple, as I destroyed Shiloh. People of all the other nations on earth will use the name of this city as a curse.” ’^[a]

⁷ The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah's message in the Lord's temple. ⁸ Jeremiah said everything that the Lord had commanded him to say to all the people. Just as he finished, some of the priests, the prophets, and the people took hold of him. They shouted, ‘You deserve to die! ⁹ You should not say that you have the Lord's authority to prophesy such terrible things! You cannot say that this temple will become like Shiloh. You cannot say that this city will become a heap of stones where nobody lives!’

The whole crowd of people pushed together around Jeremiah in the yard of the temple.

¹² Then Jeremiah said to all the officers and to all the people, ‘The Lord sent me to say all the things that you have heard me speak. He told me to prophesy against this temple and against this city. ¹³ Now you must change the way that you have been living. You must do what is good and right. Obey the Lord your God. Then the Lord will not punish you as he said that he would do. ¹⁴ As for me, I am under your authority. Do with me whatever you think is good and right. ¹⁵ But you should know this: If you punish me with death, you will bring great trouble on yourselves, this city, and everyone who lives here. You will be guilty of murder, because I have not done anything wrong. The Lord has sent me to speak all these words for you to hear. That is the truth!’

The important Jews take hold of Stephen

⁸ God helped Stephen in many special ways. God's power was with him. He did many miracles among the people which showed that God was with him. ⁹ But some men spoke against Stephen. They did not agree with what he taught people. These men were from one of the Jewish meeting places in Jerusalem. People called them, ‘The Group of Free Men’. These men were Jews from the cities called Cyrene and Alexandria. Some of them were from towns in Cilicia and Asia. They began to argue with Stephen. ¹⁰ But the Holy Spirit helped Stephen to be very wise when he spoke. So these men could not say that he was wrong.

¹¹ Then those men secretly gave money to some bad men. They told them to say to the Jewish leaders, ‘We heard this man, Stephen, say bad things against Moses and against God.’

¹² This made the people become angry against Stephen. The important Jews and the teachers of God's Law also became very angry. So they took hold of Stephen. They took him to stand in front of the group of Jewish leaders. ¹³ Then they brought in some men to say bad things about Stephen. The things that these men said were not true. They said about Stephen, ‘This man is always saying bad things about the temple. He says bad things against God's Law. ¹⁴ We also heard him talk about Jesus, the man who comes from Nazareth. He said that Jesus will destroy this place. He also said that Jesus will change the way that Moses taught us to live.’

¹⁵ All the Jewish leaders who sat there in the meeting looked carefully at Stephen. They saw that his face was very bright, like the face of an angel.

⁵¹ Then Stephen said, ‘You people do not want to obey God! You do not want to listen to God's true message. You are the same as your ancestors. Like them, you always fight against what the Holy Spirit says. ⁵² Your ancestors did bad things to every prophet that God sent to them. They even killed the prophets who told them about the Righteous Man that God would send. Now you have given that Man to his enemies. You have made them kill him. ⁵³ You are the people who received God's Law. God caused his angels to give that Law to your ancestors. But you have not obeyed it.’

The Jewish leaders kill Stephen

⁵⁴ The group of Jewish leaders listened to Stephen. What he said made them very angry. They bit their teeth together because they were so angry. ⁵⁵ But the Holy Spirit filled Stephen. He looked up to heaven and he saw the bright light of God's glory. He also saw Jesus, who was standing at the right side of God. ⁵⁶ Stephen said, ‘Look! I can see into heaven itself. It is open! I can see the Son of Man and he is standing at the right side of God!’^[a]

⁵⁷ When the Jewish leaders heard this, they put their hands over their ears. Then they shouted very loudly at Stephen and they all ran towards him. ⁵⁸ They took hold of Stephen and they pulled him out of the city. They removed their coats. They gave them to a young man to keep them safe. This young man was called Saul. Then they began to throw stones at Stephen to kill him.

⁵⁹ While the men were throwing stones at him, Stephen prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, please receive my spirit as I die.’ ⁶⁰ Then he fell down on his knees. He shouted, ‘Lord, please forgive these men. Do not punish them because they are doing this to me.’ After Stephen had said this, he died.