Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 128
A Song of Ascents.
1 Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
who walks in His ways.
2 For you shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
you will be happy, and it shall be well with you.
3 Your wife shall be as a fruitful vine
in your house,
your children like olive shoots
around your table.
4 Behold, this man shall be blessed
who fears the Lord.
5 The Lord shall bless you from Zion,
and may you see the welfare of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
6 Indeed, may you see your children’s children.
Peace upon Israel!
The New Creation
17 For I create
new heavens and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
in that which I create;
for I create Jerusalem for rejoicing
and her people for joy.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and be glad in My people;
and the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her,
nor the voice of crying.
20 There shall no longer be
an infant who lives only a few days
nor an old man who has not filled out his days.
For the child shall die
a hundred years old,
but the sinner being a hundred years old
shall be accursed.
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;
and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for as the days of a tree
are the days of My people,
and My chosen ones shall long enjoy
the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labor in vain
nor bring forth children for trouble;
for they are the descendants of the blessed of the Lord
and their offspring with them.
24 Before they call, I will answer;
and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
and the lion shall eat straw like the bull,
and dust shall be the serpent’s food.
They shall not hurt nor destroy
in all My holy mountain,
says the Lord.
6 Even David describes the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness without works:
7 “Blessed are those
whose iniquities are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the man
to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”[a]
9 Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? We are saying that faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it credited? When he was in circumcision? Or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. 11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith that he had while being uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them also, 12 and the father of circumcision to those who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham, which he had while still being uncircumcised.
The Promise Received Through Faith
13 It was not through the law that Abraham and his descendants received the promise that he would be the heir of the world, but through the righteousness of faith.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.