Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 122
A pilgrimage song. Of David.
122 I rejoiced with those who said to me,
“Let’s go to the Lord’s house!”
2 Now our feet are standing
in your gates, Jerusalem!
3 Jerusalem is built like a city
joined together in unity.
4 That is where the tribes go up—
the Lord’s tribes!
It is the law for Israel
to give thanks there to the Lord’s name,
5 because the thrones of justice are there—
the thrones of the house of David!
6 Pray that Jerusalem has peace:
“Let those who love you have rest.
7 Let there be peace on your walls;
let there be rest on your fortifications.”
8 For the sake of my family and friends,
I say, “Peace be with you, Jerusalem.”
9 For the sake of the Lord our God’s house
I will pray for your good.
Ancient heroes
6 When the number of people started to increase throughout the fertile land, daughters were born to them. 2 The divine beings saw how beautiful these human women were, so they married the ones they chose. 3 The Lord said, “My breath[a] will not remain in humans forever, because they are flesh. They will live one hundred twenty years.” 4 In those days, giants[b] lived on the earth and also afterward, when divine beings and human daughters had sexual relations and gave birth to children. These were the ancient heroes, famous men.
Great flood
5 The Lord saw that humanity had become thoroughly evil on the earth and that every idea their minds thought up was always completely evil. 6 The Lord regretted making human beings on the earth, and he was heartbroken. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe off of the land the human race that I’ve created: from human beings to livestock to the crawling things to the birds in the skies, because I regret I ever made them.” 8 But as for Noah, the Lord approved of him.
9 These are Noah’s descendants. In his generation, Noah was a moral and exemplary man; he[c] walked with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Description of faith
11 Faith is the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don’t see. 2 The elders in the past were approved because they showed faith.
Acts of faith by God’s people
3 By faith we understand that the universe has been created by a word from God so that the visible came into existence from the invisible.
4 By faith Abel offered a better sacrifice to God than Cain, which showed that he was righteous, since God gave approval to him for his gift. Though he died, he’s still speaking through faith.
5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he didn’t see death, and he wasn’t found because God took him up.[a] He was given approval for having pleased God before he was taken up. 6 It’s impossible to please God without faith because the one who draws near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards people who try to find him.
7 By faith Noah responded with godly fear when he was warned about events he hadn’t seen yet. He built an ark to deliver his household. With his faith, he criticized the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes from faith.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible