Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 2
God’s Promise to His Anointed
1 Why do the nations conspire
and the peoples plot in vain?(A)
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and his anointed, saying,(B)
3 “Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord has them in derision.(C)
5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath
and terrify them in his fury, saying,(D)
6 “I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.”(E)
7 I will tell of the decree of the Lord:
He said to me, “You are my son;
today I have begotten you.(F)
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage
and the ends of the earth your possession.(G)
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”(H)
10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear;
with trembling(I) 12 kiss his feet,[a]
or he will be angry, and you will perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Happy are all who take refuge in him.(J)
2 God also spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty,[a] but by my name ‘The Lord’[b] I did not make myself known to them.(A) 4 I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they resided as aliens.(B) 5 I have also heard the groaning of the Israelites whom the Egyptians have enslaved, and I have remembered my covenant.(C) 6 Say therefore to the Israelites: I am the Lord, and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.(D) 7 I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians.(E) 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.”(F) 9 Moses told this to the Israelites, but they would not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery.
Mediator of a Better Covenant
8 Now the main point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,(A) 2 a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent[a] that the Lord, and not any mortal, has set up.(B) 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; hence it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.(C) 4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are already those[b] who offer gifts according to the law. 5 They offer worship in a sanctuary that is[c] a sketch and shadow of the heavenly one, just as Moses was warned when he was about to erect the tent.[d] For, God[e] said, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.”(D) 6 But Jesus[f] has now obtained a more excellent ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on the basis of better promises.(E) 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need to look for a second one.(F)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.