Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God Saves, Idols Do Not
135 Praise the Lord!
Praise the name of the Lord.
Praise him, you servants of the Lord.
2 Praise him, you who stand in the Lord’s Temple
and in the Temple courtyards.
3 Praise the Lord, because he is good.
Sing praises to him, because it is pleasant.
4 The Lord has chosen the people of Jacob for himself.
He has chosen the people of Israel for his very own.
5 I know that the Lord is great.
Our Lord is greater than all the gods.
6 The Lord does what he wants,
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and the deep oceans.
7 He brings the clouds from the ends of the earth.
He sends the lightning with the rain.
He brings out the wind from his storehouses.
8 He destroyed the firstborn sons in Egypt,
the firstborn of both men and animals.
9 He did many signs and miracles in Egypt.
He did amazing things to the king and his servants.
10 He defeated many nations
and killed powerful kings:
11 Sihon king of the Amorites,
Og king of Bashan
and all the kings of Canaan.
12 Then he gave their land as a gift.
It was a gift to his people, the Israelites.
13 Lord, your name is everlasting.
Lord, you will be remembered from now on.
14 You defend your people.
You have mercy on your servants.
15 The idols of other nations are made of silver and gold.
They are made by human hands.
16 They have mouths, but they cannot speak.
They have eyes, but they cannot see.
17 They have ears, but they cannot hear.
They have no breath in their mouths.
18 The people who make idols and trust them
are all like them.
19 Family of Israel, praise the Lord.
Family of Aaron, praise the Lord.
20 Family of Levi, praise the Lord.
You people who fear the Lord should praise him.
21 You people of Jerusalem, praise the Lord on Mount Zion.
Praise the Lord!
A Song of Praise to God
26 At that time people will sing this song in Judah:
We have a strong city.
God protects us with its strong walls and defenses.
2 Open the gates,
and the good people will enter.
They follow God’s good way of living.
3 You, Lord, give true peace.
You give peace to those who depend on you.
You give peace to those who trust you.
4 So, trust the Lord always.
Trust the Lord because he is our Rock forever.
5 But the Lord will destroy the proud city.
And he will punish the people living there.
He will bring that high city down to the ground.
He throws it down into the dust.
6 Then those who were hurt by the city will walk on its ruins.
Those who were made poor by the city will trample it under their feet.
7 The path of life of the people who are right with God is level.
Lord, you make the way of life smooth for those people.
8 But, Lord, we are waiting
for your way of justice.
Our souls want to remember
you and your name.
9 My soul wants to be with you at night.
And my spirit wants to be with you at the dawn of every day.
When your way of justice comes to the land,
people of the world will learn the right way of living.
10 An evil person will not learn to do good
even if you show him kindness.
He will continue doing evil, even if he lives in a good world.
He never sees the Lord’s greatness.
11 Lord, you are ready to punish those people.
But they do not see that.
Lord, show them your strong love for your people.
Then the evil people will be ashamed.
Burn them in the fire
you have prepared for your enemies.
12 Lord, all our success is because of what you have done.
So give us peace.
13 Lord, our God, other masters besides you have ruled us.
But we honor only you.
14 Those masters are now dead.
Their ghosts will not rise from death.
You decided to destroy them.
And you destroyed any memory of them.
15 Lord, you multiplied the number of your people.
You multiplied them and brought honor to yourself.
You made the borders of the land wide.
Sadducees Try to Trick Jesus
18 Then some Sadducees came to Jesus. (Sadducees believe that no person will rise from death.) The Sadducees asked Jesus a question. 19 They said, “Teacher, Moses wrote that a man’s brother might die. He leaves a wife but no children. Then that man must marry the widow and have children for the dead brother. 20 There were seven brothers. The first brother married but died. He had no children. 21 So the second brother married the widow. But he also died and had no children. The same thing happened with the third brother. 22 All seven brothers married her and died. None of the brothers had any children. The woman was last to die. 23 But all seven brothers had married her. So at the time people rise from death, whose wife will the woman be?”
24 Jesus answered, “Why did you make this mistake? Is it because you don’t know what the Scriptures say? Or is it because you don’t know about the power of God? 25 When people rise from death, there will be no marriage. People will not be married to each other but will be like angels in heaven. 26 Surely you have read what God said about people rising from death. In the book in which Moses wrote about the burning bush,[a] it says that God told Moses this: ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’[b] 27 God is the God of living people, not dead people. You Sadducees are wrong!”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.