Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁹ That night Paul saw in a vision a man from Macedonia. The man stood and begged, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ After Paul had seen the vision, we immediately prepared to leave for Macedonia, understanding that God had called us to tell the Good News to those people.

Lydia Becomes a Christian

¹¹ We left Troas and sailed straight to the island of Samothrace. The next day we sailed to Neapolis.^{[a] 12} Then we went by land to Philippi, a Roman colony^[b] and the leading city in that part of Macedonia. We stayed there for several days.

¹³ On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate to the river where we thought we would find a special place for prayer. Some women had gathered there, so we sat down and talked with them. ¹⁴ One of the listeners was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira whose job was selling purple cloth. She worshiped God, and he opened her mind to pay attention to what Paul was saying. ¹⁵ She and all the people in her house were baptized. Then she invited us to her home, saying, “If you think I am truly a believer in the Lord, then come stay in my house.” And she persuaded us to stay with her.

Everyone Should Praise God

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm. A song.

¹⁰ And the angel carried me away by the Spirit to a very large and high mountain. He showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.

²² I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the city’s temple. ²³ The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God is its light, and the Lamb is the city’s lamp. ²⁴ By its light the people of the world will walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. ²⁵ The city’s gates will never be shut on any day, because there is no night there. ²⁶ The glory and the honor of the nations will be brought into it. ²⁷ Nothing unclean and no one who does shameful things or tells lies will ever go into it. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life will enter the city.

22 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life. It was shining like crystal and was flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² down the middle of the street of the city. The tree of life was on each side of the river. It produces fruit twelve times a year, once each month. The leaves of the tree are for the healing of all the nations. ³ Nothing that God judges guilty will be in that city. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and God’s servants will worship him. ⁴ They will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. ⁵ There will never be night again. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light. And they will rule as kings forever and ever.

²³ Jesus answered, “If people love me, they will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. ²⁴ Those who do not love me do not obey my teaching. This teaching that you hear is not really mine; it is from my Father, who sent me.

²⁵ “I have told you all these things while I am with you. ²⁶ But the Helper will teach you everything and will cause you to remember all that I told you. This Helper is the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name.

²⁷ “I leave you peace; my peace I give you. I do not give it to you as the world does. So don’t let your hearts be troubled or afraid. ²⁸ You heard me say to you, ‘I am going, but I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you should be happy that I am going back to the Father, because he is greater than I am. ²⁹ I have told you this now, before it happens, so that when it happens, you will believe.

Jesus Heals a Man at a Pool

5 Later Jesus went to Jerusalem for a special feast. ² In Jerusalem there is a pool with five covered porches, which is called Bethesda^[a] in the Hebrew language.^[b] This pool is near the Sheep Gate. ³ Many sick people were lying on the porches beside the pool. Some were blind, some were crippled, and some were paralyzed [, and they waited for the water to move. ⁴ Sometimes an angel of the Lord came down to the pool and stirred up the water. After the angel did this, the first person to go into the pool was healed from any sickness he had].^{[c] 5} A man was lying there who had been sick for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw the man and knew that he had been sick for such a long time, Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be well?”

⁷ The sick man answered, “Sir, there is no one to help me get into the pool when the water starts moving. While I am coming to the water, someone else always gets in before me.”

⁸ Then Jesus said, “Stand up. Pick up your mat and walk.” ⁹ And immediately the man was well; he picked up his mat and began to walk.

The day this happened was a Sabbath day.