Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 29^[a]

God’s Majesty in the Storm

¹ A psalm of David.

² Then Solomon summoned the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes and the princes of the families of Israel, to bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from the City of David, which is Zion. ³ All the men of Israel assembled before the king at the festival of the seventh month.

⁴ When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the Levites lifted up the Ark, ⁵ and the priests and the Levites carried it and the meeting tent with all the sacred vessels that it contained. ⁶ King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel who were present with him assembled before the Ark and sacrificed so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or reckoned.

⁷ Then the priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. ⁸ For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place where the Ark stood, so that they sheltered the Ark and its poles.

⁹ The poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside. They are still there to this very day.^{[a] 10} There was nothing inside the Ark aside from the two tablets which Moses had put there at Horeb when the Lord had made a covenant with the people of Israel after they had departed from Egypt.

¹¹ When the priests emerged from the Holy Place—for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves without regard to their divisions— ¹² all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, with their sons and brothers, dressed themselves in fine linen, with cymbals, lyres, and harps. They were standing to the east of the altar with one hundred and twenty priests, blowing the trumpets.

¹³ The trumpeters and the singers joined in unison to offer praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, and when the volume was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise of the Lord:

the temple was filled with the cloud of the glory of the Lord, ¹⁴ and as a result of the cloud the priests could not continue to minister, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.

¹⁹ “And so, King Agrippa, I did not disobey the vision from heaven. ²⁰ Rather, I started to preach, first to the people in Damascus, and then in Jerusalem and throughout the countryside of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, calling on them to repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. ²¹ That is why the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.

²² “But I have had help from God to this very day, and I stand here and testify to both the lowly and the great. I assert nothing more than what the Prophets and Moses said would occur: ²³ that the Christ must suffer, and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to the people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴ Reactions to Paul’s Speech. While Paul was still speaking in his own defense, Festus exclaimed, “You are out of your mind, Paul! Too much learning is driving you insane.” ²⁵ But he replied, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus. What I am asserting is true and reasonable. ²⁶ The king understands these matters, and to him I now speak freely. I am confident that none of this has escaped his notice, for all this was not done in a corner.^{[a] 27} King Agrippa, do you believe the Prophets?^[b] I know that you do.”

²⁸ Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Do you think that in such a brief time you can persuade me to become a Christian?” ²⁹ Paul responded, “Whether in a short time or longer, I pray to God that not only you but also all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.”