Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 99^[a]

⁶ Understand, therefore, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is about to give you this good land as a possession, for you are a stubborn^[a] people!

The History of Israel’s Stubbornness

⁷ Remember—don’t ever forget^[b]—how you provoked the Lord your God in the wilderness; from the time you left the land of Egypt until you came to this place you were constantly rebelling against him.^{[c] 8} At Horeb you provoked him and he was angry enough with you to destroy you. ⁹ When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained there^[d] forty days and nights, eating and drinking nothing. ¹⁰ The Lord gave me the two stone tablets, written by the very finger^[e] of God, and on them was everything^[f] he^[g] said to you at the mountain from the midst of the fire at the time of that assembly. ¹¹ Now at the end of the forty days and nights the Lord presented me with the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant. ¹² And he said to me, “Get up, go down at once from here because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have sinned! They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them and have made for themselves a cast metal image.”^{[h] 13} Moreover, he said to me, “I have taken note of these people; they are a stubborn^[i] lot! ¹⁴ Stand aside^[j] and I will destroy them, obliterating their very name from memory,^[k] and I will make you into a stronger and more numerous nation than they are.”

Peter Visits Cornelius

10 Now there was a man in Caesarea^[a] named Cornelius, a centurion^[b] of what was known as the Italian Cohort.^{[c] 2} He^[d] was a devout, God-fearing man,^[e] as was all his household; he did many acts of charity for the people^[f] and prayed to God regularly. ³ About three o’clock one afternoon^[g] he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God^[h] who came in^[i] and said to him, “Cornelius.” ⁴ Staring at him and becoming greatly afraid, Cornelius^[j] replied,^[k] “What is it, Lord?” The angel^[l] said to him, “Your prayers and your acts of charity^[m] have gone up as a memorial^[n] before God. ⁵ Now^[o] send men to Joppa^[p] and summon a man named Simon,^[q] who is called Peter. ⁶ This man is staying as a guest with a man named Simon, a tanner,^[r] whose house is by the sea.” ⁷ When the angel who had spoken to him departed, Cornelius^[s] called two of his personal servants^[t] and a devout soldier from among those who served him,^{[u] 8} and when he had explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.