Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 146
Praise Him for Protection
Praise for Protection
1 Praise the Lord.[a]
A Lifetime of Praise
Praise the Lord, O my soul.
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live.
I will make music to my God as long as I exist.
No Help in Humans
3 Do not trust in human helpers,[b]
in a mortal man who cannot save you.
4 His spirit departs.
He returns to the ground he came from.
On that day, his plans have perished.
Help in the Lord
5 Blessed is everyone who has the God of Jacob as his help.
His hope is in the Lord his God,
6 the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything which is in them.
He is the one who stays faithful forever.
7 He obtains justice for the oppressed.
He gives food to the hungry.
The Lord releases prisoners.
8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down.
The Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the aliens.
The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but he turns aside the way of the wicked.
An Eternity for Praise
10 The Lord reigns forever.
Your God, O Zion, rules for all generations.
Praise the Lord.
18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
19 Then the two of them traveled until they arrived at Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole town became excited over them. The women said, “Is this Naomi?”
20 But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi. Call me Mara,[a] because the Almighty has made me very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the Lord brought me back empty. Why should you call me Naomi? For the Lord has testified against me,[b] and the Almighty has treated me badly.”
22 So Naomi returned with Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, who came back with her from the territory of Moab. When they entered Bethlehem, it was the beginning of the barley harvest.[c]
The Earthly Tent
9 The first covenant had regulations for worship and for an earthly sanctuary. 2 The first room of the tent was furnished with the lampstand, the table, and the Bread of the Presence.[a] This room was called the Holy Place. 3 And behind the second curtain was the room of the tent called the Most Holy Place. 4 It had the golden censer for incense[b] and the Ark of the Covenant, which was covered entirely with gold. Inside the Ark was the golden jar holding the manna, Aaron’s staff that had sprouted buds, and the stone tablets of the covenant. 5 Above the Ark, the glorious cherubim overshadowed the atonement seat. We are not going to talk about these things in detail now.
6 After these things had been furnished in this way, the priests would always enter the first room of the tent to perform their ministries. 7 But only the high priest would enter the second section of the tent, once each year, and not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people committed in ignorance. 8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that, while the first room of the tent existed, a way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed.
9 This tent is a picture pointing to the present time. Since it is only a picture, the gifts and sacrifices that are brought there are not able to clear the conscience of the worshipper. 10 They are only bodily regulations about foods, drinks, and various washings, which were in force until the time of the new order.
Jesus’ Blood
11 But when Christ appeared as the high priest of the good things that were coming,[c] he went through the greater and more complete tent, which was not made by human hands (that is, it is not part of this creation). 12 He entered once into the Most Holy Place and obtained eternal redemption, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.