Psalm 128

New International Version

Psalm 128

A song of ascents.

¹Blessed are all who fear the Lord,^(A)
    who walk in obedience to him.^(B)
²You will eat the fruit of your labor;^(C)
    blessings and prosperity^(D) will be yours.
³Your wife will be like a fruitful vine^(E)
    within your house;
your children^(F) will be like olive shoots^(G)
    around your table.
⁴Yes, this will be the blessing^(H)
    for the man who fears the Lord.^(I)

⁵May the Lord bless you from Zion;^(J)
    may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem^(K)
    all the days of your life.
⁶May you live to see your children’s children—^(L)
    peace be on Israel.^(M)

Isaiah 65:17-25

New International Version

New Heavens and a New Earth

¹⁷“See, I will create
    new heavens and a new earth.^(A)
The former things will not be remembered,^(B)
    nor will they come to mind.
¹⁸But be glad and rejoice^(C) forever
    in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem^(D) to be a delight
    and its people a joy.
¹⁹I will rejoice^(E) over Jerusalem
    and take delight^(F) in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying^(G)
    will be heard in it no more.

²⁰“Never again will there be in it
    an infant^(H) who lives but a few days,
    or an old man who does not live out his years;^(I)
the one who dies at a hundred
    will be thought a mere child;
the one who fails to reach^[a] a hundred
    will be considered accursed.
²¹They will build houses^(J) and dwell in them;
    they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.^(K)
²²No longer will they build houses and others live in them,^(L)
    or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,^(M)
    so will be the days^(N) of my people;
my chosen^(O) ones will long enjoy
    the work of their hands.
²³They will not labor in vain,^(P)
    nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;^(Q)
for they will be a people blessed^(R) by the Lord,
    they and their descendants^(S) with them.
²⁴Before they call^(T) I will answer;^(U)
    while they are still speaking^(V) I will hear.
²⁵The wolf and the lamb^(W) will feed together,
    and the lion will eat straw like the ox,^(X)
    and dust will be the serpent’s^(Y) food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
    on all my holy mountain,”^(Z)
says the Lord.

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Footnotes

Isaiah 65:20 Or the sinner who reaches

Romans 4:6-13

New International Version

⁶David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

⁷“Blessed are those
    whose transgressions are forgiven,
    whose sins are covered.
⁸Blessed is the one
    whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”^[a]^(A)

⁹Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised?^(B) We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.^(C) ¹⁰Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! ¹¹And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.^(D) So then, he is the father^(E) of all who believe^(F) but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. ¹²And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

¹³It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise^(G) that he would be heir of the world,^(H) but through the righteousness that comes by faith.^(I)

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