Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Blessings of Those Who Fear the Lord
A Song of Ascents.
128 Blessed (A)is every one who fears the Lord,
Who walks in His ways.
2 (B)When you eat the [a]labor of your hands,
You shall be happy, and it shall be (C)well with you.
3 Your wife shall be (D)like a fruitful vine
In the very heart of your house,
Your (E)children (F)like olive plants
All around your table.
4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
Who fears the Lord.
5 (G)The Lord bless you out of Zion,
And may you see the good of Jerusalem
All the days of your life.
6 Yes, may you (H)see your children’s children.
(I)Peace be upon Israel!
The Glorious New Creation
17 “For behold, I create (A)new heavens and a new earth;
And the former shall not be remembered or [a]come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create;
For behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing,
And her people a joy.
19 (B)I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
And joy in My people;
The (C)voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her,
Nor the voice of crying.
20 “No more shall an infant from there live but a few days,
Nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days;
For the child shall die one hundred years old,
(D)But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed.
21 (E)They shall build houses and inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
They shall not plant and (F)another eat;
For (G)as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people,
And (H)My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labor in vain,
(I)Nor bring forth children for trouble;
For (J)they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the Lord,
And their offspring with them.
24 “It shall come to pass
That (K)before they call, I will answer;
And while they are still speaking, I will (L)hear.
25 The (M)wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
The lion shall eat straw like the ox,
(N)And dust shall be the serpent’s food.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,”
Says the Lord.
6 just as David also (A)describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed(B) are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”
Abraham Justified Before Circumcision
9 Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. 10 How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. 11 And (C)he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that (D)he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, 12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father (E)Abraham had while still uncircumcised.
The Promise Granted Through Faith
13 For the promise that he would be the (F)heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.