Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Blessedness of the Fear of the Lord.
A Song of Ascents.
128 (A)How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
Who (B)walks in His ways.
2 When you shall (C)eat of the [a](D)fruit of your hands,
You will be happy and (E)it will be well with you.
3 Your wife shall be like a (F)fruitful vine
[b]Within your house,
Your children like (G)olive plants
Around your table.
4 Behold, for thus shall the man be blessed
Who fears the Lord.
New Heavens and a New Earth
17 “For behold, I create (A)new heavens and a new earth;
And the (B)former things will not be remembered or come to [a]mind.
18 “But be (C)glad and rejoice forever in what I create;
For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing
And her people for gladness.
19 “I will also (D)rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people;
And there will no longer be heard in her
The voice of (E)weeping and the sound of crying.
20 “No longer will there be [b]in it an infant who lives but a few days,
Or an old man who does (F)not [c]live out his days;
For the youth will die at the age of one hundred
And the [d](G)one who does not reach the age of one hundred
Will be thought accursed.
21 “They will (H)build houses and inhabit them;
They will also (I)plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 “They will not build and (J)another inhabit,
They will not plant and another eat;
For (K)as the [e]lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people,
And My chosen ones will (L)wear out the work of their hands.
23 “They will (M)not labor in vain,
Or bear children for calamity;
For they are the [f](N)offspring of those blessed by the Lord,
And their descendants with them.
24 It will also come to pass that before they call, I will (O)answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. 25 The (P)wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the (Q)lion will eat straw like the ox; and (R)dust will be the serpent’s food. They will (S)do no evil or harm in all My (T)holy mountain,” says the Lord.
6 just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7 “(A)Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven,
And whose sins have been covered.
8 “(B)Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not (C)take into account.”
9 Is this blessing then on [a](D)the circumcised, or on [b]the uncircumcised also? For (E)we say, “(F)Faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.” 10 How then was it credited? While he was [c]circumcised, or [d]uncircumcised? Not while [e]circumcised, but while [f]uncircumcised; 11 and he (G)received the sign of circumcision, (H)a seal of the righteousness of the faith which [g]he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be (I)the father of (J)all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them, 12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which [h]he had while uncircumcised.
13 For (K)the promise to Abraham or to his [i]descendants (L)that he would be heir of the world was not [j]through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.
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