Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 121
Assurance of God’s Protection
A Song of Ascents.
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—
from where will my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.(A)
3 He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.(B)
4 He who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
God’s Compassion and Steadfast Love
18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
and passing over the transgression
of the remnant of his possession?
He does not retain his anger forever
because he delights in showing steadfast love.(A)
19 He will again have compassion upon us;
he will tread our iniquities under foot.
You will cast all our[a] sins
into the depths of the sea.(B)
20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob
and steadfast love to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our ancestors
from the days of old.(C)
Righteousness through Faith
21 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed and is attested by the Law and the Prophets,(A) 22 the righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ[a] for all who believe.[b] For there is no distinction,(B) 23 since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;(C) 24 they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,(D) 25 whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement[c] by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed;(E) 26 it was to demonstrate at the present time his own righteousness, so that he is righteous and he justifies the one who has the faith of Jesus.[d]
27 Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. Through what kind of law? That of works? No, rather through the law of faith.(F) 28 For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.(G) 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of gentiles also? Yes, of gentiles also, 30 since God is one, and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.(H) 31 Do we then overthrow the law through this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.
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.