Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
40 For this Adonai’s fury blazed up against his people,
and he detested his heritage.
41 He handed them over to the power of the nations,
and those who hated them ruled over them.
42 Their enemies oppressed them
and kept them in subjection to their power.
43 Many times [God] rescued them,
but they kept making plans to rebel.
Thus they were brought low
by their own wrongdoing.
44 Still he took pity on their distress
whenever he heard their cry.
45 For their sakes he kept in mind his covenant
and in his limitless grace relented,
46 causing them to be treated with compassion
by all who had taken them captive.
47 Save us, Adonai our God!
Gather us from among the nations,
so that we can thank your holy name
and glory in praising you.
48 Blessed be Adonai, the God of Isra’el,
from eternity past to eternity future.
Now let all the people say,
“Amen! Halleluyah!”
12 (13) Adonai answers:
“Because they abandoned my Torah,
which I set before them,
and neither listened to what I said
nor lived accordingly,
13 (14) but have lived by their own hearts’ stubbornness
and by the ba‘alim, as their ancestors taught them —
14 (15) therefore,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot,
the God of Isra’el:
“I will feed this people bitter wormwood
and give them poisonous water to drink.
15 (16) I will scatter them among nations
that neither they nor their ancestors have known.
I will send the sword after them
until I have wiped them out.”
16 (17) Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot:
“Mark this, then summon the mourning women,
so that they will come;
send for those who are best [at mourning],
so that they will come:
17 (18) ‘Have them hurry and wail for us,
so our eyes will be wet from crying,
and our eyelids gush with tears.’
18 (19) For the sound of wailing is heard from Tziyon:
‘We are utterly ruined,
we are completely ashamed,
because we have left the land,
and our homes have been torn down!’”
19 (20) You women, hear the word of Adonai!
Let your ears receive the words from his mouth.
Teach your daughters how to wail,
have each teach her friend how to lament:
20 (21) “Death has come up through our windows,
it has entered our palaces,
it has cut down children in the streets
and young people in the public places.”
21 (22) Say: “Here is what Adonai says:
‘The corpses of people are scattered
like dung in an open field,
like sheaves left behind by the reaper
with no one to gather them.’”
22 (23) Here is what Adonai says:
“The wise man should not boast of his wisdom,
the powerful should not boast of his power,
the wealthy should not boast of his wealth;
23 (24) instead, let the boaster boast about this:
that he understands and knows me —
that I am Adonai, practicing grace,
justice and righteousness in the land;
for in these things I take pleasure,” says Adonai.
24 (25) “The days are coming,” says Adonai, “when I will punish all those who have been circumcised in their uncircumcision — 25 (26) Egypt, Y’hudah, Edom, the people of ‘Amon and Mo’av, and all those living in the desert who cut the edges [of their beard]:
“For although all the Goyim are uncircumcised,
all the house of Isra’el have uncircumcised hearts.”
4 Kefa and Yochanan were still speaking to the people when the cohanim, the captain in charge of the Temple police, and the Tz’dukim came upon them, 2 very annoyed that they were teaching the people the doctrine of resurrection from the dead and offering Yeshua as proof. 3 The Temple police arrested them; and since it was already evening, they put them in custody overnight. 4 However, many of those who heard the message trusted; the number of men alone was about five thousand.
5 The next day, the people’s rulers, elders and Torah-teachers assembled in Yerushalayim, 6 along with ‘Anan the cohen hagadol, Kayafa, Yochanan, Alexander and the other men from the family of the cohen hagadol. 7 They had the emissaries stand before them and asked, “By what power or in what name did you do this?”
8 Then Kefa, filled with the Ruach HaKodesh, said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being examined today about a good deed done for a disabled person, if you want to know how he was restored to health, 10 then let it be known to you and to all the people of Isra’el that it is in the name of the Messiah, Yeshua from Natzeret, whom you had executed on a stake as a criminal but whom God has raised from the dead, that this man stands before you perfectly healed.
11 “This Yeshua is the stone rejected by you builders which has become the cornerstone.[a] 12 There is salvation in no one else! For there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by whom we must be saved!”
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.