Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 46
The King’s Reign
Heading
For the choir director. By the Sons of Korah.
According to alamoth.[a] A song.
The Earth Shaken
1 God is our refuge and strength,
a helper who can always be found in times of trouble.
2 That is why we will not fear when the earth dissolves
and when the mountains tumble into the heart of the sea.
3 Its waters roar and foam.
The mountains quake when it rises. Interlude
A City Unshaken
4 There is a river—its streams bring joy to the city of God,
to the holy dwelling of the Most High.
5 God is in her. She will not fall.
God will help her at daybreak.
6 Nations are in turmoil. Kingdoms fall.
God raises his voice. The earth melts.
7 The Lord of Armies is with us.
The God of Jacob is a fortress for us. Interlude
8 Come, look at the works of the Lord.
What a wasteland he has made of the earth!
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth.
He shatters the bow. He cuts up the spear.
He burns the carts[b] with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations.
I will be exalted on the earth.”
11 The Lord of Armies is with us.
The God of Jacob is a fortress for us. Interlude
The Creation of Man and Woman
4 This is the account about the development[a] of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens:
5 No bushes that grow in the field were yet on the earth,[b] and no plants of the field had yet sprung up, since the Lord God had not yet caused it to rain on the earth. There was not yet a man to till the soil, 6 but water[c] came up from the earth and watered the entire surface of the ground.
7 The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground[d] and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. 8 The Lord God planted a garden[e] in Eden in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 Out of the ground the Lord God made every kind of tree grow—trees that are pleasant to look at and good for food, including the Tree of Life in the middle of the garden and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
10 A river went out from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became the headwaters of four rivers. 11 The name of the first river is Pishon. It flows through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold, 12 and the gold of that land is good. Incense[f] and onyx stone are also found there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon. It is the same river that winds through the whole land of Cush.[g] 14 The name of the third river is Tigris. This is the one which flows along the east side of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 The Lord God took the man and settled him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to take care of it. 16 The Lord God gave a command to the man. He said, “You may freely eat from every tree in the garden, 17 but you shall not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for on the day that you eat from it, you will certainly die.”
18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is a suitable partner for him.” 19 Out of the soil the Lord God had formed every wild animal and every bird of the sky, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature, that became its name. 20 The man gave names to all the livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every wild animal, but for Adam[h] no helper was found who was a suitable partner for him. 21 The Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. As the man slept, the Lord God took a rib[i] and closed up the flesh where it had been. 22 The Lord God built a woman from the rib that he had taken from the man and brought her to the man.
23 The man said,
Now this one is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh.
She will be called “woman,”
because she was taken out of man.[j]
24 For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother
and will remain united with his wife,
and they will become one flesh.[k]
25 They were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed.
6 This does not mean that God’s word has failed, because not all who are descended from Israel are really Israel, 7 and not all who are descended from Abraham are really his children. On the contrary, “Your line of descent will be traced through Isaac.”[a] 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are counted as his descendants. 9 For this is what the promise said: “I will arrive at this set time, and Sarah will have a son.”[b]
God’s Choice Is Based on His Mercy
10 Not only that, but Rebekah also had children by one man, our forefather, Isaac. 11 Even before the twins were born or did anything good or bad, in order that God’s purpose in election might continue— 12 not by works but because of him who calls us—it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.”[c] 13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”[d]
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.