Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The Lord—Our Helper

121 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains. Where will my help come from? ² My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. ³ He will not let your feet go out from under you. He Who watches over you will not sleep. ⁴ Listen, He Who watches over Israel will not close his eyes or sleep.

⁵ The Lord watches over you. The Lord is your safe cover at your right hand. ⁶ The sun will not hurt you during the day and the moon will not hurt you during the night. ⁷ The Lord will keep you from all that is sinful. He will watch over your soul. ⁸ The Lord will watch over your coming and going, now and forever.

¹⁸ Who is a God like You, Who forgives sin and the wrong-doing of Your chosen people who are left? He does not stay angry forever because He is happy to show loving-kindness. ¹⁹ He will again have loving-pity on us. He will crush our sins under foot. Yes, You will throw all our sins into the deep sea. ²⁰ You will be true to Jacob and show loving-kindness to Abraham, as You promised our fathers in days long ago.

²¹ But now God has made another way to make men right with Himself. It is not by the Law. The Law and the early preachers tell about it. ²² Men become right with God by putting their trust in Jesus Christ. God will accept men if they come this way. All men are the same to God. ²³ For all men have sinned and have missed the shining-greatness of God. ²⁴ Anyone can be made right with God by the free gift of His loving-favor. It is Jesus Christ Who bought them with His blood and made them free from their sins. ²⁵ God gave Jesus Christ to the world. Men’s sins can be forgiven through the blood of Christ when they put their trust in Him. God gave His Son Jesus Christ to show how right He is. Before this, God did not look on the sins that were done. ²⁶ But now God proves that He is right in saving men from sin. He shows that He is the One Who has no sin. God makes anyone right with Himself who puts his trust in Jesus.

²⁷ What then do we have to be proud of? Nothing at all! Why? Is it because men obey the Law? No! It is because men put their trust in Christ. ²⁸ This is what we have come to know. A man is made right with God by putting his trust in Christ. It is not by his doing what the Law says. ²⁹ Is God the God of the Jews only? Is He not the God of the people who are not Jews also? He is for sure. ³⁰ He is one God. He will make Jews and the people who are not Jews right with Himself if they put their trust in Christ. ³¹ Does this mean that we do away with the Law when we put our trust in Christ? No, not at all. It means we know the Law is important.