Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The Glories of the City of God
A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A Song.
87 His foundation is in the holy mountains.
2 (A)The Lord loves the gates of Zion
More than all the dwellings of Jacob.
3 (B)Glorious things are spoken of you,
O city of God! Selah
4 “I will make mention of [a]Rahab and Babylon to those who know Me;
Behold, O Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia:
‘This one was born there.’ ”
5 And of Zion it will be said,
“This one and that one were born in her;
And the Most High Himself shall establish her.”
6 The Lord will record,
When He (C)registers the peoples:
“This one was born there.” Selah
7 Both the singers and the players on instruments say,
“All my springs are in you.”
8 (A)Bring out the blind people who have eyes,
And the (B)deaf who have ears.
9 Let all the nations be gathered together,
And let the people be assembled.
(C)Who among them can declare this,
And show us former things?
Let them bring out their witnesses, that they may be justified;
Or let them hear and say, “It is truth.”
10 “You(D) are My witnesses,” says the Lord,
(E)“And My servant whom I have chosen,
That you may know and (F)believe Me,
And understand that I am He.
Before Me there was no God formed,
Nor shall there be after Me.
11 I, even I, (G)am the Lord,
And besides Me there is no savior.
12 I have declared and saved,
I have proclaimed,
And there was no (H)foreign god among you;
(I)Therefore you are My witnesses,”
Says the Lord, “that I am God.
13 (J)Indeed before the day was, I am He;
And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand;
I work, and who will (K)reverse it?”
13 For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as (A)I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14 if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and (B)save some of them. 15 For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be (C)but life from the dead?
16 For if (D)the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 And if (E)some of the branches were broken off, (F)and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and [a]fatness of the olive tree, 18 (G)do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.
19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” 20 Well said. Because of (H)unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, [b]goodness, (I)if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise (J)you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, (K)if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be (L)wise in your own [c]opinion, that (M)blindness in part has happened to Israel (N)until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be [d]saved, as it is written:
(O)“The Deliverer will come out of Zion,
And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
27 For (P)this is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins.”
28 Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are (Q)beloved for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are (R)irrevocable.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.