Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 146
Praise Him for Protection
Praise for Protection
1 Praise the Lord.[a]
A Lifetime of Praise
Praise the Lord, O my soul.
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live.
I will make music to my God as long as I exist.
No Help in Humans
3 Do not trust in human helpers,[b]
in a mortal man who cannot save you.
4 His spirit departs.
He returns to the ground he came from.
On that day, his plans have perished.
Help in the Lord
5 Blessed is everyone who has the God of Jacob as his help.
His hope is in the Lord his God,
6 the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything which is in them.
He is the one who stays faithful forever.
7 He obtains justice for the oppressed.
He gives food to the hungry.
The Lord releases prisoners.
8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down.
The Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the aliens.
The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but he turns aside the way of the wicked.
An Eternity for Praise
10 The Lord reigns forever.
Your God, O Zion, rules for all generations.
Praise the Lord.
The Sabbatical Year
15 At the end of seven years grant a release.[a]
2 This is how the release is to be done: Every creditor is to release[b] what he has loaned to his neighbor. He must not exact it from his neighbor or from his brother Israelite, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed. 3 You may exact it from a foreigner, but your hand is to release whatever your brother Israelite owes you.[c]
4 However, there should be no poor people among you, because the Lord will greatly bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance for you to possess, 5 if you obey the voice of the Lord your God by carefully carrying out all of this command that I am giving you today. 6 For the Lord your God will bless you, just as he has promised you, and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.
7 However, if there is a poor person among you, any one of your fellow Israelites within the gates of your towns in the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not harden your heart and shut your hand against your poor brother. 8 Rather, open up your hand to him and freely lend him enough of whatever he needs for himself. 9 Be careful that you do not harbor this wicked thought: Year seven, the year of release, is near! So as a result you have a harsh attitude toward your poor brother and do not give him anything. Then he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin. 10 Give freely to him, and do not feel resentful about giving to him, because on account of your giving, the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and whatever you put your hand to. 11 Since there will never cease to be poor people in the land, I command you, open up your hand to your brother in your land, to the afflicted and the poor among you.
15 For this reason, he is the mediator of a new covenant. A death took place as payment for the trespasses committed under the first covenant, so that those who are called would receive the promised eternal inheritance. 16 For where a will[a] exists, it is necessary to establish the death of the one who made the will. 17 For a will takes effect at the time of death, since it is never in force when the one who made the will is still living.
18 For this reason, the first covenant was not ratified without blood. 19 Indeed, after every command was spoken by Moses to all the people, in accordance with the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats,[b] with water and scarlet wool and a hyssop branch, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people. 20 He said, “This is the blood of the covenant that God established for you.”[c] 21 In the same way he sprinkled blood on the tent and all the objects for worship. 22 And nearly everything is cleansed with blood according to the law. And, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.
One Perfect Sacrifice
23 Therefore, it was necessary that the copies of the things in heaven be cleansed by these sacrifices, but it was necessary that the heavenly things themselves be cleansed with sacrifices better than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a handmade sanctuary, a representation of the true sanctuary. Instead, he entered into heaven itself, now to appear before God on our behalf.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.