Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 135
135 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord’s name!
All you who serve the Lord, praise God!
2 All you who stand in the Lord’s house—
who stand in the courtyards of our God’s temple—
3 praise the Lord, because the Lord is good!
Sing praises to God’s name because it is beautiful!
4 Because the Lord chose Jacob as his own,
God chose Israel as his treasured possession.
5 Yes, I know for certain that the Lord is great—
I know our Lord is greater than all other gods.
6 The Lord can do whatever he wants
in heaven or on earth,
in the seas and in every ocean depth.
7 God forms clouds at the far corners of the earth.
God makes lightning for the rain.
God releases the wind from its storeroom.
8 God struck down the Egyptians’ oldest offspring—
both human and animal!
9 God sent signs and wonders into the very center of Egypt—
against Pharaoh and all his servants.
10 God struck down many nations
and killed mighty kings:
11 Sihon the Amorite king,
Og the king of Bashan,
and all the Canaanite kings.
12 Then God handed their land over as an inheritance—
as an inheritance to Israel, his own people.
13 Lord, your name is forever!
Lord, your fame extends from one generation to the next!
14 The Lord gives justice to his people
and has compassion on those who serve him.
15 The nations’ idols are just silver and gold—
things made by human hands.
16 They have mouths, but they can’t speak.
They have eyes, but they can’t see.
17 They have ears, but they can’t listen.
No, there’s no breath in their lungs!
18 Let the people who made these idols
and all who trust in them
become just like them!
19 House of Israel, bless the Lord!
House of Aaron, bless the Lord!
20 House of Levi, bless the Lord!
You who honor the Lord, bless the Lord!
21 Bless the Lord from Zion—
bless the one who lives in Jerusalem!
Praise the Lord!
Trusting in God forever
26 On that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
Ours is a strong city!
God makes salvation its walls and ramparts.
2 Open the gates and let a righteous nation enter,
a nation that keeps faith.
3 Those with sound thoughts you will keep in peace,
in peace because they trust in you.
4 Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord is a rock for all ages.
5 He has thrown down those living on high,
and he will level the lofty town,
leveling it down to the earth;
he will bring it down to dust.
6 The feet trample it,
the feet of the poor,
the steps of the needy.
7 The way of the righteous is level;
you clear a path for the righteous.
8 In the path of your justice, Lord, we wait for you;
with all our being, we long for your name and your acclaim.
9 At night I long for you with my whole being;
my spirit within me watches for you.
When your judgments are at work in the earth,
those living in the world learn righteousness.
10 When the wicked are favored, they don’t learn righteousness;
even among those who do right they do wrong,
and they fail to see the Lord’s majesty.
11 Lord, your hand is lifted up,
but they don’t see.
Let them see and shrink back because of your zeal for your people;
your burning anger that consumes your enemies.
12 Lord, grant us peace,
because all that we have done has been your doing.
13 Lord our God, other masters besides you have ruled us,
but we will profess your name alone.
14 The dead don’t live; ghosts don’t rise.
Indeed, you have punished and destroyed them,
and abolished all memory of them.
15 You’ve enlarged the nation, Lord.
You’ve enlarged the nation; you are glorified.
You’ve expanded all the land’s boundaries.
A question about the resurrection
18 Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Jesus and asked, 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a widow but no children, the brother must marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.[a] 20 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman; when he died, he left no children. 21 The second married her and died without leaving any children. The third did the same. 22 None of the seven left any children. Finally, the woman died. 23 At the resurrection, when they all rise up, whose wife will she be? All seven were married to her.”
24 Jesus said to them, “Isn’t this the reason you are wrong, because you don’t know either the scriptures or God’s power? 25 When people rise from the dead, they won’t marry nor will they be given in marriage. Instead, they will be like God’s angels. 26 As for the resurrection from the dead, haven’t you read in the scroll from Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God said to Moses, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?[b] 27 He isn’t the God of the dead but of the living. You are seriously mistaken.”
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible