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Psalm 148

1  Alleluia.
      Praise the Lord from the heavens; ♦︎
   praise him in the heights.
2  Praise him, all you his angels; ♦︎
   praise him, all his host.
3  Praise him, sun and moon; ♦︎
   praise him, all you stars of light.
4  Praise him, heaven of heavens, ♦︎
   and you waters above the heavens.
5  Let them praise the name of the Lord, ♦︎
   for he commanded and they were created.
6  He made them fast for ever and ever; ♦︎
   he gave them a law which shall not pass away.
7  Praise the Lord from the earth, ♦︎
   you sea monsters and all deeps;
8  Fire and hail, snow and mist, ♦︎
   tempestuous wind, fulfilling his word;
9  Mountains and all hills, ♦︎
   fruit trees and all cedars;
10  Wild beasts and all cattle, ♦︎
   creeping things and birds on the wing;
11  Kings of the earth and all peoples, ♦︎
   princes and all rulers of the world;
12  Young men and women,
      old and young together; ♦︎
   let them praise the name of the Lord.
13  For his name only is exalted, ♦︎
   his splendour above earth and heaven.
14  He has raised up the horn of his people
      and praise for all his faithful servants, ♦︎
   the children of Israel, a people who are near him.
      Alleluia.

⁸ Blow the horn in Gibeah,
   the trumpet in Ramah.
Sound the alarm at Beth-aven;
   look behind you, Benjamin!
⁹ Ephraim shall become a desolation
   on the day of punishment;
among the tribes of Israel
   I declare what is sure.
¹⁰ The princes of Judah have become
   like those who remove the landmark;
on them I will pour out
   my wrath like water.
¹¹ Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgement,
   because he was determined to go after vanity.^*
12 Therefore I am like maggots to Ephraim,
   and like rottenness to the house of Judah.
¹³ When Ephraim saw his sickness,
   and Judah his wound,
then Ephraim went to Assyria,
   and sent to the great king.^*
But he is not able to cure you
   or heal your wound.
¹⁴ For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
   and like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I myself will tear and go away;
   I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.
¹⁵ I will return again to my place
   until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face.
   In their distress they will beg my favour:

A Call to Repentance

6‘Come, let us return to the Lord;
   for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us;
   he has struck down, and he will bind us up.
² After two days he will revive us;
   on the third day he will raise us up,
   that we may live before him.
³ Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord;
   his appearing is as sure as the dawn;
he will come to us like the showers,
   like the spring rains that water the earth.’

Impenitence of Israel and Judah

⁴ What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
   What shall I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
   like the dew that goes away early.
⁵ Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,
   I have killed them by the words of my mouth,
   and my^* judgement goes forth as the light.
⁶ For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
   the knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings.

⁷ But at^* Adam they transgressed the covenant;
   there they dealt faithlessly with me.
⁸ Gilead is a city of evildoers,
   tracked with blood.
⁹ As robbers lie in wait^* for someone,
   so the priests are banded together;^*
they murder on the road to Shechem,
   they commit a monstrous crime.
¹⁰ In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;
   Ephraim’s whoredom is there, Israel is defiled.

¹¹ For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed.

When I would restore the fortunes of my people,

Paul Sent to the Gentiles

17 ‘After I had returned to Jerusalem and while I was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance ¹⁸and saw Jesus^* saying to me, “Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.” ¹⁹And I said, “Lord, they themselves know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. ²⁰And while the blood of your witness Stephen was shed, I myself was standing by, approving and keeping the coats of those who killed him.” ²¹Then he said to me, “Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.” ’

Paul and the Roman Tribune

22 Up to this point they listened to him, but then they shouted, ‘Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.’ ²³And while they were shouting, throwing off their cloaks, and tossing dust into the air, ²⁴the tribune directed that he was to be brought into the barracks, and ordered him to be examined by flogging, to find out the reason for this outcry against him. ²⁵But when they had tied him up with thongs,^* Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, ‘Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who is uncondemned?’ ²⁶When the centurion heard that, he went to the tribune and said to him, ‘What are you about to do? This man is a Roman citizen.’ ²⁷The tribune came and asked Paul,^* ‘Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’ ²⁸The tribune answered, ‘It cost me a large sum of money to get my citizenship.’ Paul said, ‘But I was born a citizen.’ ²⁹Immediately those who were about to examine him drew back from him; and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.