Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 118

The Creation

1 In the beginning Elohim created heaven and earth.

² The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep water. The Ruach Elohim was hovering over the water.

³ Then Elohim said, “Let there be light!” So there was light. ⁴ Elohim saw the light was good. So Elohim separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ Elohim named the light day, and the darkness he named night. There was evening, then morning—the first day.

⁶ Then Elohim said, “Let there be a horizon in the middle of the water in order to separate the water.” ⁷ So Elohim made the horizon and separated the water above and below the horizon. And so it was. ⁸ Elohim named what was above the horizon sky. There was evening, then morning—a second day.

⁹ Then Elohim said, “Let the water under the sky come together in one area, and let the dry land appear.” And so it was. ¹⁰ Elohim named the dry land earth. The water which came together he named sea. Elohim saw that it was good. ¹¹ Then Elohim said, “Let the earth produce vegetation: plants bearing seeds, each according to its own type, and fruit trees bearing fruit with seeds, each according to its own type.” And so it was. ¹² The earth produced vegetation: plants bearing seeds, each according to its own type, and trees bearing fruit with seeds, each according to its own type. Elohim saw that they were good. ¹³ There was evening, then morning—a third day.

¹⁴ Then Elohim said, “Let there be lights in the sky to separate the day from the night. They will be signs and will mark religious festivals, days, and years. ¹⁵ They will be lights in the sky to shine on the earth.” And so it was. ¹⁶ Elohim made the two bright lights: the larger light to rule the day and the smaller light to rule the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷ Elohim put them in the sky to give light to the earth, ¹⁸ to dominate the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. Elohim saw that it was good. ¹⁹ There was evening, then morning—a fourth day.

We Will Have Bodies That Will Not Decay

³⁵ But someone will ask, “How do the dead come back to life? With what kind of body will they come back?”

³⁶ You fool! The seed you plant doesn’t come to life unless it dies first. ³⁷ What you plant, whether it’s wheat or something else, is only a seed. It doesn’t have the form that the plant will have. ³⁸ God gives the plant the form he wants it to have. Each kind of seed grows into its own form. ³⁹ Not all flesh is the same. Humans have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds have another, and fish have still another. ⁴⁰ There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. Heavenly bodies don’t all have the same splendor, neither do earthly bodies. ⁴¹ The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon has another kind of splendor, and the stars have still another kind of splendor. Even one star differs in splendor from another star.

⁴² That is how it will be when the dead come back to life. When the body is planted, it decays. When it comes back to life, it cannot decay. ⁴³ When the body is planted, it doesn’t have any splendor and is weak. When it comes back to life, it has splendor and is strong. ⁴⁴ It is planted as a physical body. It comes back to life as a spiritual body. As there is a physical body, so there is also a spiritual body.

⁴⁵ This is what Scripture says: “The first man, Adam, became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶ The spiritual does not come first, but the physical and then the spiritual. ⁴⁷ The first man was made from the dust of the earth. He came from the earth. The second man came from heaven. ⁴⁸ The people on earth are like the man who was made from the dust of the earth. The people in heaven are like the man who came from heaven. ⁴⁹ As we have worn the likeness of the man who was made from the dust of the earth, we will also wear the likeness of the man who came from heaven.