Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 145[a]
The Greatness and Goodness of God
1 Praise. Of David.
I will extol you, my God and king;
I will bless your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless you;
I will praise your name forever and ever.(A)
3 Great is the Lord and worthy of much praise,(B)
whose grandeur is beyond understanding.
4 One generation praises your deeds to the next
and proclaims your mighty works.(C)
5 They speak of the splendor of your majestic glory,
tell of your wonderful deeds.(D)
17 The Lord is just in all his ways,
merciful in all his works.(A)
18 The Lord is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.(B)
19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.(C)
20 The Lord watches over all who love him,
but all the wicked he destroys.(D)
21 My mouth will speak the praises of the Lord;
all flesh will bless his holy name forever and ever.
Chapter 1
Call for Obedience. 1 In the second year of Darius,[a] in the eighth month, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo: 2 The Lord was very angry with your ancestors.[b](A) 3 Say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts, Return to me—oracle of the Lord[c] of hosts—and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. 4 Do not be like your ancestors to whom the earlier prophets[d] proclaimed: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Turn from your evil ways and from your wicked deeds.(B) But they did not listen or pay attention to me(C)—oracle of the Lord.— 5 Your ancestors, where are they? And the prophets, can they live forever? 6 But my words and my statutes, with which I charged my servants the prophets, did these not overtake your ancestors?(D) Then they repented[e] and admitted: “Just as the Lord of hosts intended to treat us according to our ways and deeds, so the Lord has done.”
First Vision: Horses Patrolling the Earth.(E) 7 In the second year of Darius, on the twenty-fourth day of Shebat, the eleventh month,[f] the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo:
8 [g]I looked out in the night,[h] and there was a man mounted on a red horse standing in the shadows among myrtle trees; and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses. 9 I asked, “What are these, my lord?”[i] Then the angel who spoke with me answered, “I will show you what these are.” 10 Then the man who was standing among the myrtle trees spoke up and said, “These are the ones whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.”(F) 11 And they answered the angel of the Lord,[j] who was standing among the myrtle trees: “We have been patrolling the earth, and now the whole earth rests quietly.” 12 Then the angel of the Lord replied, “Lord of hosts, how long will you be without mercy for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that have felt your anger these seventy years?”[k](G) 13 To the angel who spoke with me, the Lord replied favorably, with comforting words.
Oracular Response. 14 The angel who spoke with me then said to me, Proclaim: Thus says the Lord of hosts:
I am jealous for Jerusalem
and for Zion[l] intensely jealous.(H)
15 I am consumed with anger
toward the complacent nations;[m]
When I was only a little angry,
they compounded the disaster.(I)
16 Therefore, thus says the Lord:
I return to Jerusalem in mercy;(J)
my house[n] will be rebuilt there(K)—oracle of the Lord of hosts—
and a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem.
17 Proclaim further: Thus says the Lord of hosts:
My cities will again overflow with prosperity;
the Lord will again comfort Zion,
and will again choose Jerusalem.(L)
Paul Imprisoned. 22 (A)They listened to him until he said this, but then they raised their voices and shouted, “Take such a one as this away from the earth. It is not right that he should live.”[a] 23 And as they were yelling and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, 24 the cohort commander ordered him to be brought into the compound and gave instruction that he be interrogated under the lash to determine the reason why they were making such an outcry against him. 25 (B)But when they had stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the centurion on duty, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and has not been tried?”[b] 26 When the centurion heard this, he went to the cohort commander and reported it, saying, “What are you going to do? This man is a Roman citizen.” 27 Then the commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes,” he answered. 28 The commander replied, “I acquired this citizenship for a large sum of money.” Paul said, “But I was born one.” 29 At once those who were going to interrogate him backed away from him, and the commander became alarmed when he realized that he was a Roman citizen and that he had had him bound.
Paul Before the Sanhedrin. 30 The next day, wishing to determine the truth about why he was being accused by the Jews, he freed him and ordered the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin to convene. Then he brought Paul down and made him stand before them.
Chapter 23
1 Paul looked intently at the Sanhedrin and said, “My brothers, I have conducted myself with a perfectly clear conscience before God to this day.”(C) 2 The high priest Ananias[c] ordered his attendants to strike his mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you,[d] you whitewashed wall. Do you indeed sit in judgment upon me according to the law and yet in violation of the law order me to be struck?”(D) 4 The attendants said, “Would you revile God’s high priest?” 5 Paul answered, “Brothers, I did not realize he was the high priest. For it is written,(E) ‘You shall not curse a ruler of your people.’”[e]
6 Paul was aware that some were Sadducees and some Pharisees, so he called out before the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees; [I] am on trial for hope in the resurrection of the dead.”(F) 7 When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the group became divided. 8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection or angels or spirits, while the Pharisees acknowledge all three.(G) 9 A great uproar occurred, and some scribes belonging to the Pharisee party stood up and sharply argued, “We find nothing wrong with this man. Suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” 10 The dispute was so serious that the commander, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, ordered his troops to go down and rescue him from their midst and take him into the compound. 11 [f](H)The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage. For just as you have borne witness to my cause in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome.”
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.