Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
My Help Comes from the Lord
A Song of (A)Ascents.
121 I (B)lift up my eyes to (C)the hills.
From where does my help come?
2 (D)My help comes from the Lord,
who (E)made heaven and earth.
3 He will not (F)let your foot be moved;
he who (G)keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your (H)shade on your (I)right hand.
6 (J)The sun shall not (K)strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will (L)keep you from all evil;
he will (M)keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your (N)going out and your coming in
from this time forth and for evermore.
11 (A)“O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted,
behold, (B)I will set your stones in antimony,
(C)and lay your foundations with sapphires.[a]
12 I will make your pinnacles of agate,[b]
your gates of carbuncles,[c]
and all your wall of precious stones.
13 (D)All your children (E)shall be taught by the Lord,
(F)and great shall be the peace of your children.
14 In righteousness you shall be established;
you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;
and from terror, for it shall not come near you.
15 (G)If anyone stirs up strife,
it is not from me;
whoever stirs up strife with you
shall fall because of you.
16 Behold, I have created the smith
who blows the fire of coals
and produces a weapon for its purpose.
I have also created the ravager to destroy;
17 no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed,
and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgement.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord
(H)and their vindication[d] from me, declares the Lord.”
Paul Addresses the Areopagus
22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, (A)‘To the unknown god.’ (B)What therefore you worship (C)as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 (D)The God who made the world and everything in it, being (E)Lord of heaven and earth, (F)does not live in temples made by man,[a] 25 nor is he served by human hands, (G)as though he needed anything, since he himself (H)gives to all mankind (I)life and breath and everything. 26 And (J)he made from one man every nation of mankind to live (K)on all the face of the earth, (L)having determined allotted periods and (M)the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 (N)that they should seek God, in the hope that (O)they might feel their way towards him and find him. (P)Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for
as even some of (R)your own poets have said,
“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’[c]
29 (S)Being then God's offspring, (T)we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 (U)The times of ignorance (V)God overlooked, but (W)now he (X)commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed (Y)a day on which (Z)he will judge the world (AA)in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and (AB)of this he has given assurance to all (AC)by raising him from the dead.”
32 Now when they heard of (AD)the resurrection of the dead, (AE)some mocked. But others said, (AF)“We will hear you again about this.” 33 So Paul went out from their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius (AG)the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.