Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 121
The Lord Our Protector
A song of ascents.
1 I lift my eyes toward the mountains.
Where will my help come from?(A)
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.(B)
3 He will not allow your foot to slip;
your Protector will not slumber.(C)
4 Indeed, the Protector of Israel
does not slumber or sleep.(D)
11 “Poor Jerusalem, storm-tossed, and not comforted,
I will set your stones in black mortar,[a]
and lay your foundations in lapis lazuli.(A)
12 I will make your fortifications[b] out of rubies,
your gates out of sparkling stones,
and all your walls out of precious stones.
13 Then all your children will be taught by the Lord,(B)
their prosperity will be great,
14 and you will be established
on a foundation of righteousness.
You will be far from oppression,
you will certainly not be afraid;
you will be far from terror,
it will certainly not come near you.
15 If anyone attacks you,
it is not from me;
whoever attacks you
will fall before you.
16 Look, I have created the craftsman
who blows on the charcoal fire
and produces a weapon suitable for its task;
and I have created the destroyer to cause havoc.
17 No weapon formed against you will succeed,
and you will refute any accusation[c]
raised against you in court.
This is the heritage of the Lord’s servants,(C)
and their vindication is from me.”(D)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
The Areopagus Address
22 Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said, “People of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect. 23 For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’ Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it(A)—he is Lord of heaven and earth(B)—does not live in shrines made by hands.(C) 25 Neither is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything,(D) since he himself gives everyone life and breath and all things.(E) 26 From one man[a] he has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live.(F) 27 He did this so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.(G) 28 For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’(H) 29 Since, then, we are God’s offspring, we shouldn’t think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image fashioned by human art and imagination.(I)
30 “Therefore, having overlooked(J) the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has set a day when he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”(K)
32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to ridicule him, but others said, “We’d like to hear from you again about this.” 33 So Paul left their presence. 34 However, some people joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
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