Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 118

¹ O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!

² Let Israel now say that His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever.

¹⁴ The Lord is my Strength and Song; and He has become my Salvation.

¹⁵ The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents and private dwellings of the [uncompromisingly] righteous: the right hand of the Lord does valiantly and achieves strength!

¹⁶ The right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord does valiantly and achieves strength!

¹⁷ I shall not die but live, and shall declare the works and recount the illustrious acts of the Lord.

¹⁸ The Lord has chastened me sorely, but He has not given me over to death.^(A)

¹⁹ Open to me the [temple] gates of righteousness; I will enter through them, and I will confess and praise the Lord.

²⁰ This is the gate of the Lord; the [uncompromisingly] righteous shall enter through it.^(B)

²¹ I will confess, praise, and give thanks to You, for You have heard and answered me; and You have become my Salvation and Deliverer.

²² The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

²³ This is from the Lord and is His doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.^(C)

²⁴ This is the day which the Lord has brought about; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

²⁰ And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly and swarm with living creatures, and let birds fly over the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.

²¹ God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good (suitable, admirable) and He approved it.

²² And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the fowl multiply in the earth.

²³ And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

²⁴ And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creeping things, and [wild] beasts of the earth according to their kinds. And it was so.

²⁵ And God made the [wild] beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and domestic animals according to their kinds, and everything that creeps upon the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good (fitting, pleasant) and He approved it.

²⁶ God said, Let Us [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the [tame] beasts, and over all of the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth.^(A)

²⁷ So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them.^(B)

²⁸ And God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it [using all its vast resources in the service of God and man]; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth.

²⁹ And God said, See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the land and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.

³⁰ And to all the animals on the earth and to every bird of the air and to everything that creeps on the ground—to everything in which there is the breath of life—I have given every green plant for food. And it was so.

³¹ And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good (suitable, pleasant) and He approved it completely. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

² And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.^(C)

³ And God blessed (spoke good of) the seventh day, set it apart as His own, and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all His work which He had created and done.^(D)

⁴ This is the history of the heavens and of the earth when they were created. In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens—

⁵⁰ But I tell you this, brethren, flesh and blood cannot [become partakers of eternal salvation and] inherit or share in the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable (that which is decaying) inherit or share in the imperishable (the immortal).

⁵¹ Take notice! I tell you a mystery (a secret truth, an event decreed by the hidden purpose or counsel of God). We shall not all fall asleep [in death], but we shall all be changed (transformed)

⁵² In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the [sound of the] last trumpet call. For a trumpet will sound, and the dead [in Christ] will be raised imperishable (free and immune from decay), and we shall be changed (transformed).

⁵³ For this perishable [part of us] must put on the imperishable [nature], and this mortal [part of us, this nature that is capable of dying] must put on immortality (freedom from death).

⁵⁴ And when this perishable puts on the imperishable and this that was capable of dying puts on freedom from death, then shall be fulfilled the Scripture that says, Death is swallowed up (utterly vanquished ^[a]forever) in and unto victory.^(A)

⁵⁵ O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?^(B)

⁵⁶ Now sin is the sting of death, and sin exercises its power ^[b][upon the soul] through ^[c][the abuse of] the Law.

⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory [making us conquerors] through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brethren, be firm (steadfast), immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord [always being superior, excelling, doing more than enough in the service of the Lord], knowing and being continually aware that your labor in the Lord is not futile [it is never wasted or to no purpose].