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Psalm 131

1  O Lord, my heart is not proud; ♦︎
   my eyes are not raised in haughty looks.
2  I do not occupy myself with great matters, ♦︎
   with things that are too high for me.
3  But I have quieted and stilled my soul,
      like a weaned child on its mother’s breast; ♦︎
   so my soul is quieted within me.
4  O Israel, trust in the Lord, ♦︎
   from this time forth for evermore.

Psalm 132

1  Lord, remember for David ♦︎
   all the hardships he endured;
2  How he swore an oath to the Lord ♦︎
   and vowed a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:
3  ‘I will not come within the shelter of my house, ♦︎
   nor climb up into my bed;
4  ‘I will not allow my eyes to sleep, ♦︎
   nor let my eyelids slumber,
5  ‘Until I find a place for the Lord, ♦︎
   a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.’
6  Now, we heard of the ark in Ephrathah ♦︎
   and found it in the fields of Ja-ar.
7  Let us enter his dwelling place ♦︎
   and fall low before his footstool.
8  Arise, O Lord, into your resting place, ♦︎
   you and the ark of your strength.
9  Let your priests be clothed with righteousness ♦︎
   and your faithful ones sing with joy.
10  For your servant David’s sake, ♦︎
   turn not away the face of your anointed.
11  The Lord has sworn an oath to David, ♦︎
   a promise from which he will not shrink:
12  ‘Of the fruit of your body ♦︎
   shall I set upon your throne.
13  ‘If your children keep my covenant
      and my testimonies that I shall teach them, ♦︎
   their children also shall sit upon your throne for evermore.’
14  For the Lord has chosen Zion for himself; ♦︎
   he has desired her for his habitation:
15  ‘This shall be my resting place for ever; ♦︎
   here will I dwell, for I have longed for her.
16  ‘I will abundantly bless her provision; ♦︎
   her poor will I satisfy with bread.
17  ‘I will clothe her priests with salvation, ♦︎
   and her faithful ones shall rejoice and sing.
18  ‘There will I make a horn to spring up for David; ♦︎
   I will keep a lantern burning for my anointed.
19  ‘As for his enemies, I will clothe them with shame; ♦︎
   but on him shall his crown be bright.’

Psalm 133

1  Behold how good and pleasant it is ♦︎
   to dwell together in unity.
2  It is like the precious oil upon the head, ♦︎
   running down upon the beard,
3  Even on Aaron’s beard, ♦︎
   running down upon the collar of his clothing.
4  It is like the dew of Hermon ♦︎
   running down upon the hills of Zion.
5  For there the Lord has promised his blessing: ♦︎
   even life for evermore.

The Song of Deborah

5Then Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying:
² ‘When locks are long in Israel,
   when the people offer themselves willingly—
   bless ^* the Lord!

³ ‘Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes;
   to the Lord I will sing,
   I will make melody to the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁴ ‘Lord, when you went out from Seir,
   when you marched from the region of Edom,
the earth trembled,
   and the heavens poured,
   the clouds indeed poured water.
⁵ The mountains quaked before the Lord, the One of Sinai,
   before the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁶ ‘In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,
   in the days of Jael, caravans ceased
   and travellers kept to the byways.
⁷ The peasantry prospered in Israel,
   they grew fat on plunder,
because you arose, Deborah,
   arose as a mother in Israel.
⁸ When new gods were chosen,
   then war was in the gates.
Was shield or spear to be seen
   among forty thousand in Israel?
⁹ My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel
   who offered themselves willingly among the people.
   Bless the Lord.

¹⁰ ‘Tell of it, you who ride on white donkeys,
   you who sit on rich carpets,^*
   and you who walk by the way.
¹¹ To the sound of musicians^* at the watering-places,
   there they repeat the triumphs of the Lord,
   the triumphs of his peasantry in Israel.

‘Then down to the gates marched the people of the Lord.

¹² ‘Awake, awake, Deborah!
   Awake, awake, utter a song!
Arise, Barak, lead away your captives,
   O son of Abinoam.
¹³ Then down marched the remnant of the noble;
   the people of the Lord marched down for him^* against the mighty.
¹⁴ From Ephraim they set out^* into the valley,^*
   following you, Benjamin, with your kin;
from Machir marched down the commanders,
   and from Zebulun those who bear the marshal’s staff;
¹⁵ the chiefs of Issachar came with Deborah,
   and Issachar faithful to Barak;
   into the valley they rushed out at his heels.
Among the clans of Reuben
   there were great searchings of heart.
¹⁶ Why did you tarry among the sheepfolds,
   to hear the piping for the flocks?
Among the clans of Reuben
   there were great searchings of heart.
¹⁷ Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan;
   and Dan, why did he abide with the ships?
Asher sat still at the coast of the sea,
   settling down by his landings.
¹⁸ Zebulun is a people that scorned death;
   Naphtali too, on the heights of the field.

¹⁹ ‘The kings came, they fought;
   then fought the kings of Canaan,
at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo;
   they got no spoils of silver.
²⁰ The stars fought from heaven,
   from their courses they fought against Sisera.
²¹ The torrent Kishon swept them away,
   the onrushing torrent, the torrent Kishon.
   March on, my soul, with might!

²² ‘Then loud beat the horses’ hoofs
   with the galloping, galloping of his steeds.

²³ ‘Curse Meroz, says the angel of the Lord,
   curse bitterly its inhabitants,
because they did not come to the help of the Lord,
   to the help of the Lord against the mighty.

²⁴ ‘Most blessed of women be Jael,
   the wife of Heber the Kenite,
   of tent-dwelling women most blessed.
²⁵ He asked water and she gave him milk,
   she brought him curds in a lordly bowl.
²⁶ She put her hand to the tent-peg
   and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet;
she struck Sisera a blow,
   she crushed his head,
   she shattered and pierced his temple.
²⁷ He sank, he fell,
   he lay still at her feet;
at her feet he sank, he fell;
   where he sank, there he fell dead.

²⁸ ‘Out of the window she peered,
   the mother of Sisera gazed^* through the lattice:
“Why is his chariot so long in coming?
   Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?”
²⁹ Her wisest ladies make answer,
   indeed, she answers the question herself:
³⁰ “Are they not finding and dividing the spoil?—
   A girl or two for every man;
spoil of dyed stuffs for Sisera,
   spoil of dyed stuffs embroidered,
   two pieces of dyed work embroidered for my neck as spoil?”

³¹ ‘So perish all your enemies, O Lord!
   But may your friends be like the sun as it rises in its might.’

And the land had rest for forty years.

The Coming of the Holy Spirit

2When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. ²And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. ⁴All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. ⁶And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. ⁷Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? ⁹Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, ¹¹Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ ¹²All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ ¹³But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’

Peter Addresses the Crowd

14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. ¹⁵Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. ¹⁶No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
¹⁷ “In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
   and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
   and your old men shall dream dreams.
¹⁸ Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
   in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
     and they shall prophesy.
¹⁹ And I will show portents in the heaven above
   and signs on the earth below,
     blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
²⁰ The sun shall be turned to darkness
   and the moon to blood,
     before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
²¹ Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”