Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Praises to God for Being Saved from Death

116 I love the Lord, because He hears my voice and my prayers. ² I will call on Him as long as I live, because He has turned His ear to me. ³ The strings of death are all around me. And the fear of the grave came upon me. I suffered with trouble and sorrow. ⁴ Then I called on the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I beg You, save my life!”

¹² What should I give to the Lord for all the good things He has done for me? ¹³ I will show Him my thanks for saving me with a gift of wine and praise His name. ¹⁴ I will keep my promises to the Lord before all His people. ¹⁵ The death of His holy ones is of great worth in the eyes of the Lord. ¹⁶ For sure I am Your servant, O Lord. I am Your servant, the son of the woman who served You. You have set me free from my chains. ¹⁷ I will give a gift of thanks to You and call on the name of the Lord. ¹⁸ I will keep my promises to the Lord before all His people, ¹⁹ in the holy place of the Lord, and in the center of you, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!

A Song of Praise

25 O Lord, You are my God. I will praise You. I will give thanks to Your name. For You have been faithful to do great things, plans that You made long ago. ² For You have laid waste a city. You have destroyed a strong city. The beautiful house of strangers is a city no more. And it will never be built again. ³ So strong people will honor You. Cities of nations that show no pity will fear You. ⁴ For You have been a strong-place for those who could not help themselves and for those in need because of much trouble. You have been a safe place from the storm and a shadow from the heat. For the breath of the one who shows no pity is like a storm against a wall. ⁵ Like heat in a dry place, You quiet the noise of the strangers. Like heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the one who shows no pity is made quiet.

⁸ You have never seen Him but you love Him. You cannot see Him now but you are putting your trust in Him. And you have joy so great that words cannot tell about it. ⁹ You will get what your faith is looking for, which is to be saved from the punishment of sin.

¹⁰ The early preachers tried to find out how to be saved. They told of the loving-favor that would come to you. ¹¹ The early preachers wondered at what time or to what person this would happen. The Spirit of Christ in them was talking to them and told them to write about how Christ would suffer and about His shining-greatness later on. ¹² They knew these things would not happen during the time they lived but while you are living many years later. These are the very things that were told to you by those who preached the Good News. The Holy Spirit Who was sent from heaven gave them power and they told of things that even the angels would like to know about.