Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

121 Shall I look to the mountain gods for help? ² No! My help is from Jehovah who made the mountains! And the heavens too! ^3-4 He will never let me stumble, slip, or fall. For he is always watching, never sleeping.

⁵ Jehovah himself is caring for you! He is your defender.^{[a] 6} He protects you day and night. ⁷ He keeps you from all evil and preserves your life. ⁸ He keeps his eye upon you as you come and go and always guards you.

¹⁸ Where is another God like you, who pardons the sins of the survivors among his people? You cannot stay angry with your people, for you love to be merciful. ¹⁹ Once again you will have compassion on us. You will tread our sins beneath your feet; you will throw them into the depths of the ocean! ²⁰ You will bless us as you promised Jacob long ago. You will set your love upon us, as you promised our father Abraham!

^21-22 But now God has shown us a different way to heaven^[a]—not by “being good enough” and trying to keep his laws, but by a new way (though not new, really, for the Scriptures told about it long ago). Now God says he will accept and acquit us—declare us “not guilty”—if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like. ²³ Yes, all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious ideal; ²⁴ yet now God declares us “not guilty” of offending him if we trust in Jesus Christ, who in his kindness freely takes away our sins.

²⁵ For God sent Christ Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to end all God’s anger against us. He used Christ’s blood and our faith as the means of saving us from his wrath.^[b] In this way he was being entirely fair, even though he did not punish those who sinned in former times. For he was looking forward to the time when Christ would come and take away those sins. ²⁶ And now in these days also he can receive sinners in this same way because Jesus took away their sins.

But isn’t this unfair for God to let criminals go free, and say that they are innocent? No, for he does it on the basis of their trust in Jesus who took away their sins.

²⁷ Then what can we boast about doing to earn our salvation? Nothing at all. Why? Because our acquittal is not based on our good deeds; it is based on what Christ has done and our faith in him. ²⁸ So it is that we are saved^[c] by faith in Christ and not by the good things we do.

²⁹ And does God save only the Jews in this way? No, the Gentiles, too, may come to him in this same manner. ³⁰ God treats us all the same; all, whether Jews or Gentiles, are acquitted if they have faith. ³¹ Well then, if we are saved by faith, does this mean that we no longer need obey God’s laws? Just the opposite! In fact, only when we trust Jesus can we truly obey him.