Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

96 Sing a new song to the Lord! Sing it everywhere around the world! ² Sing out his praises! Bless his name. Each day tell someone that he saves.

³ Publish his glorious acts throughout the earth. Tell everyone about the amazing things he does. ⁴ For the Lord is great beyond description and greatly to be praised. Worship only him among the gods! ⁵ For the gods of other nations are merely idols, but our God made the heavens! ⁶ Honor and majesty surround him; strength and beauty are in his Temple.

⁷ O nations of the world, confess that God alone is glorious and strong. ⁸ Give him the glory he deserves! Bring your offering and come to worship him.^{[a] 9} Worship the Lord with the beauty of holy lives.^[b] Let the earth tremble before him. ¹⁰ Tell the nations that Jehovah reigns! He rules the world. His power can never be overthrown. He will judge all nations fairly.

¹¹ Let the heavens be glad, the earth rejoice; let the vastness of the roaring seas demonstrate his glory. ¹² Praise him for the growing fields, for they display his greatness. Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise. ¹³ For the Lord is coming to judge the earth; he will judge the nations fairly and with truth!

⁸ But the Lord says, “Be patient; the time is coming soon when I will stand up and accuse these evil nations. For it is my decision to gather together the kingdoms of the earth and pour out my fiercest anger and wrath upon them. All the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.

⁹ “At that time I will change the speech of my returning people to pure Hebrew^[a] so that all can worship the Lord together. ¹⁰ My scattered people who live in the Sudan,^[b] beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, will come with their offerings, asking me to be their God again. ¹¹ And then you will no longer need to be ashamed of yourselves, for you will no longer be rebels against me. I will remove all your proud and arrogant people from among you; there will be no pride or haughtiness on my holy mountain. ¹² Those who are left will be the poor and the humble, and they will trust in the name of the Lord. ¹³ They will not be sinners, full of lies and deceit. They will live quietly, in peace, and lie down in safety, and no one will make them afraid.”

⁵ For Moses wrote that if a person could be perfectly good and hold out against temptation all his life and never sin once, only then could he be pardoned and saved. ⁶ But the salvation that comes through faith says, “You don’t need to search the heavens to find Christ and bring him down to help you,” and, ⁷ “You don’t need to go among the dead to bring Christ back to life again.”

⁸ For salvation that comes from trusting Christ—which is what we preach—is already within easy reach of each of us; in fact, it is as near as our own hearts and mouths. ⁹ For if you tell others with your own mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord and believe in your own heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is by believing in his heart that a man becomes right with God; and with his mouth he tells others of his faith, confirming his salvation.^[a]

¹¹ For the Scriptures tell us that no one who believes in Christ will ever be disappointed. ¹² Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect: they all have the same Lord who generously gives his riches to all those who ask him for them. ¹³ Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.