Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A song for going up to worship.
128 Blessed are all who fear the Lord
and live his way.
2 You will certainly eat what your own hands have provided.
Blessings to you!
May things go well for you!
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine inside your home.
Your children will be like young olive trees around your table.
4 This is how the Lord will bless the person who fears him.
5 May the Lord bless you from Zion
so that you may see Jerusalem prospering
all the days of your life.
6 May you live to see your children’s children.
Let there be peace in Israel!
17 I will create a new heaven and a new earth.
Past things will not be remembered.
They will not come to mind.
18 Be glad, and rejoice forever in what I’m going to create,
because I’m going to create Jerusalem to be a delight
and its people to be a joy.
19 I will rejoice about Jerusalem and be glad about my people.
Screaming and crying will no longer be heard in the city.
20 There will no longer be an infant who lives for only a few days
or an old man who doesn’t live a long life.
Whoever lives to be a hundred years old will be thought of as young.
Whoever dies before he is a hundred years old will be cursed as a sinner.
21 They will build houses and live there.
They will plant vineyards and eat fruit from them.
22 They will not build homes and have others live there.
They will not plant and have others eat from it.
My people will live as long as trees,
and my chosen ones will enjoy what they’ve done.
23 They will never again work for nothing.
They will never again give birth to children who die young,
because they will be offspring blessed by the Lord.
The Lord will bless their descendants as well.
24 Before they call, I will answer.
While they’re still speaking, I will hear.
25 Wolves and lambs will feed together,
lions will eat straw like oxen,
and dust will be food for snakes.
“They will not hurt or destroy anyone anywhere on my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.
6 David says the same thing about those who are blessed: God approves of people without their earning it. David said,
7 “Blessed are those whose disobedience is forgiven
and whose sins are pardoned.
8 Blessed is the person whom the Lord no longer considers sinful.”
9 Are only the circumcised people blessed, or are uncircumcised people blessed as well? We say, “Abraham’s faith was regarded as the basis of God’s approval.” 10 How was his faith regarded as the basis of God’s approval? Was he circumcised or was he uncircumcised at that time? He had not been circumcised. 11 Abraham’s faith was the basis of his approval by God while he was still uncircumcised. The mark of circumcision is the seal of that approval. Therefore, he is the father of every believer who is not circumcised, and their faith, too, is regarded as the basis of their approval by God. 12 He is also the father of those who not only are circumcised but also are following in the footsteps of his faith. Our father Abraham had that faith before he was circumcised.
13 So it was not by obeying the laws in Moses’ Teachings that Abraham or his descendants received the promise that he would inherit the world. Rather, he received this promise through God’s approval that comes by faith.
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