Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 71
God’s Help in Old Age
1 Lord, I seek refuge in you;
let me never be disgraced.(A)
2 In your justice, rescue and deliver me;
listen closely to me and save me.(B)
3 Be a rock of refuge for me,
where I can always go.
Give the command to save me,
for you are my rock and fortress.(C)
4 Deliver me, my God, from the power of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and oppressive.(D)
5 For you are my hope, Lord God,
my confidence from my youth.(E)
6 I have leaned on you from birth;
you took me from my mother’s womb.(F)
My praise is always about you.(G)
Josiah’s Last Deeds and Death
20 After all this(A) that Josiah had prepared for the temple, King Neco of Egypt(B) marched up to fight at Carchemish(C) by the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to confront him. 21 But Neco sent messengers to him, saying, “What is the issue between you and me, king of Judah?(D) I have not come against you today[a] but I am fighting another dynasty.[b] God told me to hurry. Stop opposing God who is with me; don’t make him destroy you!”
22 But Josiah did not turn away from him; instead, in order to fight with him he disguised himself.[c](E) He did not listen to Neco’s words from the mouth of God, but went to the Valley of Megiddo(F) to fight. 23 The archers shot King Josiah, and he said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am severely wounded!” (G) 24 So his servants took him out of the war chariot, carried him in his second chariot, and brought him to Jerusalem. Then he died, and they buried him in the tomb of his ancestors. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned(H) for Josiah. 25 Jeremiah chanted a dirge(I) over Josiah, and all the male and female singers still speak of Josiah in their dirges today. They established them as a statute for Israel, and indeed they are written in the Dirges.
26 The rest of the events(J) of Josiah’s reign, along with his deeds of faithful love according to what is written in the law of the Lord, 27 and his words, from beginning to end, are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.
Twelve Disciples of John the Baptist
19 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions and came to Ephesus. He found some disciples(A) 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” (B)
“No,” they told him, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”(C)
3 “Into what then were you baptized?” he asked them.
“Into John’s baptism,” they replied.(D)
4 Paul said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance,(E) telling the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Jesus.”(F)
5 When they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands on(G) them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began to speak in tongues[a] and to prophesy.(H) 7 Now there were about twelve men in all.
In the Lecture Hall of Tyrannus
8 Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly over a period of three months, arguing and persuading them about the kingdom of God.(I) 9 But when some became hardened and would not believe, slandering the Way in front of the crowd, he withdrew from them, taking the disciples, and conducted discussions every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.(J) 10 This went on for two years, so that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks,(K) heard the word of the Lord.(L)
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