Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 121

A Song of ^[a]Ascents.

¹ I will lift up my eyes to the hills [around Jerusalem, to sacred Mount Zion and Mount Moriah]—From whence shall my help come?^(A)

² My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.

³ He will not allow your foot to slip or to be moved; He Who keeps you will not slumber.^(B)

⁴ Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand [the side not carrying a shield].^(C)

⁶ The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night.^(D)

⁷ The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life.

⁸ The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.^(E)

¹⁴ And this day shall be to you for a memorial. You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations, keep it as an ordinance forever.

¹⁵ [In celebration of the Passover in future years] seven days shall you eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away leaven [symbolic of corruption] out of your houses; for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.

¹⁶ On the first day you shall hold a solemn and holy assembly, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn and holy assembly; no kind of work shall be done in them, save [preparation of] that which every person must eat—that only may be done by you.

¹⁷ And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day have I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore shall you observe this day throughout your generations as an ordinance forever.

¹⁸ In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread [and continue] until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.

¹⁹ Seven days no leaven [symbolic of corruption] shall be found in your houses; whoever eats what is leavened shall be excluded from the congregation of Israel, whether a stranger or native-born.^(A)

²⁰ You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread [during that week].

²¹ Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said to them, Go forth, select and take a lamb according to your families and kill the Passover [lamb].

²² And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood in the basin, and touch the lintel above the door and the two side posts with the blood; and none of you shall go out of his house until morning.

²³ For the Lord will pass through to slay the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood upon the lintel and the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to slay you.

²⁴ You shall observe this rite for an ordinance to you and to your sons forever.

²⁵ When you come to the land which the Lord will give you, as He has promised, you shall keep this service.

²⁶ When your children shall say to you, What do you mean by this service?

²⁷ You shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for He passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He slew the Egyptians but spared our houses. And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.

²⁸ The Israelites went and, as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

¹¹ Beloved, I implore you as aliens and strangers and exiles [in this world] to abstain from the sensual urges (the evil desires, the passions of the flesh, your lower nature) that wage war against the soul.

¹² Conduct yourselves properly (honorably, righteously) among the Gentiles, so that, although they may slander you as evildoers, [yet] they may by witnessing your good deeds [come to] glorify God in the day of inspection [^[a]when God shall look upon you wanderers as a pastor or shepherd looks over his flock].

¹³ Be submissive to every human institution and authority for the sake of the Lord, whether it be to the emperor as supreme,

¹⁴ Or to governors as sent by him to bring vengeance (punishment, justice) to those who do wrong and to encourage those who do good service.

¹⁵ For it is God’s will and intention that by doing right [your good and honest lives] should silence (muzzle, gag) the ignorant charges and ill-informed criticisms of foolish persons.

¹⁶ [Live] as free people, [yet] without employing your freedom as a pretext for wickedness; but [live at all times] as servants of God.

¹⁷ Show respect for all men [treat them honorably]. Love the brotherhood (the Christian fraternity of which Christ is the Head). Reverence God. Honor the emperor.