Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Praising God for His Graciousness
135 Hallelujah!
Praise the name of the Lord!
Give praise, you servants of the Lord,
2 you who are standing in the Lord’s Temple,
in the courtyards of the house of our God.
3 Praise the Lord,
because the Lord is good;
Sing to his name,
for he is gracious.
4 It is Jacob whom the Lord chose for himself—
Israel as his personal possession.
5 Indeed, I know that the Lord is great,
and that our Lord[a] surpasses all gods.
6 The Lord does whatever pleases him
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all its[b] deep regions.
7 He makes the clouds rise from the ends of the earth,
fashioning lightning for the rain,
bringing the wind from his storehouses.
8 It was the Lord[c] who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
including both men and animals.
9 He sent signs and wonders among you, Egypt,
before[d] Pharaoh and all his servants.
10 He struck down many nations,
killing many kings—
11 Sihon, king of the Amorites,
Og, king of Bashan,
and every kingdom of Canaan—
12 and he gave their land as an inheritance,
an inheritance to his people Israel.
13 Your name, Lord, exists forever,
and your reputation, Lord, throughout the ages.
14 For the Lord will vindicate his people,
and he will show compassion on his servants.
15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
worked by[e] the hands of human beings.
16 Mouths are attributed to them,
but they cannot speak;
sight is attributed to them,
but they cannot see;
17 ears are attributed to them,
but they do not hear,
and there is no breath in their mouths.
18 Those who craft them—
and all[f] who trust in them—
will become like them.
19 House of Israel, bless the Lord!
House of Aaron, bless the Lord!
20 House of Levi, bless the Lord!
You who fear the Lord, bless the Lord!
21 Blessed be the Lord from Zion,
he who lives in Jerusalem.
Hallelujah!
The Song of Redeemed Judah
“We have a strong city;
God crafts victory,
its walls and ramparts.[c]
2 Open your[d] gates,
so the righteous nation that safeguards its faith may enter.
3 You will keep perfectly peaceful[e]
the one whose mind remains focused on you,
because he remains[f] in you.
4 “Trust in the Lord forever,
for in the Lord God[g] you have an everlasting rock.
5 For he has made drunk[h]
the inhabitants of the height,
the lofty city.
He lays it low[i] to the ground
casting it down to the dust,
6 by the feet of the oppressed who trample it,[j]
by the footsteps of the needy.[k]
7 “The path of the righteous is level;
O Upright One,[l]
you make safe[m] the way of justice.[n]
8 Yes, Lord, in the path of your judgments we wait;[o]
your name and your Law[p] are the[q] soul’s desire.
9 My soul yearns for you in the night;
my spirit within me searches for you.
For when your judgments come upon the earth,
the world’s inhabitants learn righteousness.
10 If favor is shown to the wicked,
they don’t learn righteousness;
even in a land of uprightness they act perversely
and do not perceive the majesty of the Lord.
11 “Lord, your hand is lifted up,
but they do not see it.
And[r] let them see your zeal for your[s] people
and be put to shame—
yes, let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them!
12 Lord, you will decide[t] peace for us,
for you have indeed accomplished
all our achievements for us.
13 O Lord our God,
other lords besides you have ruled over us,
but through you alone
we acknowledge your name.
14 The dead won’t live,
and[u] the departed spirits won’t rise—
to that end, you punished and destroyed them,
then locked away[v] all memory of them.
A Question about the Resurrection(A)
18 Then some Sadducees, who claim there is no resurrection, came to Jesus[a] and asked him, 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no child, he should marry the widow and have children for his brother.[b] 20 There were seven brothers. The first one married and died without having children. 21 Then the second married her and died without having children, and so did the third. 22 None of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died, too. 23 In the resurrection, whose wife will she be, since all seven had married her?”[c]
24 Jesus answered them, “Aren’t you mistaken because you don’t know the Scriptures or God’s power? 25 When people[d] rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven. 26 As for the dead being raised, haven’t you read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?[e] 27 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”
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