Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A song for going up to the Temple.
121 I look up to the hills,
but where will my help really come from?
2 My help will come from the Lord,
the Creator of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let you fall.
Your Protector will not fall asleep.
4 Israel’s Protector does not get tired.
He never sleeps.
5 The Lord is your Protector.
The Lord stands by your side, shading and protecting you.
6 The sun cannot harm you during the day,
and the moon cannot harm you at night.
7 The Lord will protect you from every danger.
He will protect your soul.
8 The Lord will protect you as you come and go,[a]
both now and forever!
Praise for the Lord
18 There is no God like you.
You take away people’s guilt.
God will forgive his people who survive.
He will not stay angry with them forever,
because he enjoys being kind.
19 He will come back and comfort us again.
He will throw all our sins into the deep sea.
20 God, please be true to Jacob.
Be kind and loyal to Abraham,[a] as you promised our ancestors long ago.
How God Makes People Right
21 But God has a way to make people right, and it has nothing to do with the law. He has now shown us that new way, which the law and the prophets told us about. 22 God makes people right through their faith in[a] Jesus Christ. He does this for all who believe in Christ. Everyone is the same. 23 All have sinned and are not good enough to share God’s divine greatness. 24 They are made right with God by his grace. This is a free gift. They are made right with God by being made free from sin through Jesus Christ. 25-26 God gave Jesus as a way to forgive people’s sins through their faith in him. God can forgive them because the blood sacrifice of Jesus pays for their sins. God gave Jesus to show that he always does what is right and fair. He was right in the past when he was patient and did not punish people for their sins. And in our own time he still does what is right. God worked all this out in a way that allows him to judge people fairly and still make right any person who has faith in Jesus.
27 So do we have any reason to boast about ourselves? No reason at all. And why not? Because we are depending on the way of faith, not on what we have done in following the law. 28 I mean we are made right with God through faith, not through what we have done to follow the law. This is what we believe. 29 God is not only the God of the Jews. He is also the God of those who are not Jews. 30 There is only one God. He will make Jews[b] right with him by their faith, and he will also make non-Jews[c] right with him through their faith. 31 So do we destroy the law by following the way of faith? Not at all! In fact, faith causes us to be what the law actually wants.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International