Psalm 95
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Psalm 95
A Call to Worship and Obedience
1 O come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!(A)
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!(B)
3 For the Lord is a great God
and a great King above all gods.(C)
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and the dry land, which his hands have formed.(D)
6 O come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!(E)
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture
and the sheep of his hand.
O that today you would listen to his voice!(F)
8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,(G)
9 when your ancestors tested me
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.(H)
10 For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they do not regard my ways.”(I)
11 Therefore in my anger I swore,
“They shall not enter my rest.”(J)
Psalm 95
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Psalm 95
A Call to Worship and Obedience
1 O come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!(A)
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!(B)
3 For the Lord is a great God
and a great King above all gods.(C)
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and the dry land, which his hands have formed.(D)
6 O come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!(E)
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture
and the sheep of his hand.
O that today you would listen to his voice!(F)
8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,(G)
9 when your ancestors tested me
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.(H)
10 For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they do not regard my ways.”(I)
11 Therefore in my anger I swore,
“They shall not enter my rest.”(J)
Jeremiah 5:1-9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Utter Corruption of God’s People
5 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
look around and take note!
Search its squares and see
if you can find one person
who acts justly
and seeks truth—
so that I may pardon Jerusalem.[a](A)
2 Although they say, “As the Lord lives,”
yet they swear falsely.(B)
3 O Lord, do your eyes not look for truth?
You have struck them,
but they felt no anguish;
you have consumed them,
but they refused to take correction.
They have made their faces harder than rock;
they have refused to turn back.(C)
4 Then I said, “These are only the poor;
they have no sense,
for they do not know the way of the Lord,
the law of their God.(D)
5 Let me go to the rich[b]
and speak to them;
surely they know the way of the Lord,
the law of their God.”
But they all alike had broken the yoke;
they had burst the bonds.(E)
6 Therefore a lion from the forest shall kill them;
a wolf from the desert shall destroy them.
A leopard is watching against their cities;
everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many;
their faithlessness is great.(F)
7 How can I pardon you?
Your children have forsaken me
and have sworn by those who are no gods.
When I fed them to the full,
they committed adultery
and trooped to the houses of prostitutes.(G)
8 They were well-fed lusty stallions,
each neighing for his neighbor’s wife.(H)
9 Shall I not punish them for these things?
says the Lord,
and shall I not bring retribution
on a nation such as this?(I)
Romans 2:25-3:18
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
25 Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law your circumcision has become uncircumcision.(A) 26 So, if the uncircumcised keep the requirements of the law, will not their uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27 Then the physically uncircumcised person who keeps the law will judge you who, though having the written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law. 28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something external and physical.(B) 29 Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not the written code. Such a person receives praise not from humans but from God.(C)
3 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much, in every way. For in the first place, the Jews[a] were entrusted with the oracles of God.(D) 3 What if some were unfaithful? Will their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?(E) 4 By no means! Although every human is a liar, let God be proved true, as it is written,
5 But if our injustice serves to confirm the justice of God, what should we say? That God is unjust to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.)(G) 6 By no means! For then how could God judge the world? 7 But if through my falsehood God’s truthfulness abounds to his glory, why am I still being judged as a sinner? 8 And why not say (as some people slander us by saying that we say), “Let us do evil so that good may come”? Their judgment is deserved!(H)
None Is Righteous
9 What then? Are we any better off?[c] No, not at all, for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin,(I) 10 as it is written:
“There is no one who is righteous, not even one;(J)
11 there is no one who has understanding;
there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
there is no one who shows kindness;
there is not even one.”
13 “Their throats are opened graves;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of vipers is under their lips.”(K)
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;(L)
16 ruin and misery are in their paths,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
John 5:30-47
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Witnesses to Jesus
30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.(A)
31 “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.(B) 32 There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true.(C) 33 You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth.(D) 34 Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.(E) 36 But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.(F) 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form,(G) 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent.(H)
39 “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that testify on my behalf.(I) 40 Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. 41 I do not accept glory from humans. 42 But I know that you do not have the love of God in[a] you. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God?[b](J) 45 Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope.(K) 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.(L) 47 But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”
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Psalm 73
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Book III
(Psalms 73–89)
Psalm 73
Plea for Relief from Oppressors
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.(A)
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;
my steps had nearly slipped.(B)
3 For I was envious of the arrogant;
I saw the prosperity of the wicked.(C)
4 For they have no pain;
their bodies are sound and sleek.
5 They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not plagued like other people.(D)
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them like a garment.(E)
7 Their eyes swell out with fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.(F)
8 They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.(G)
9 They set their mouths against heaven,
and their tongues range over the earth.
10 Therefore the people turn and praise them[a]
and find no fault in them.[b]
11 And they say, “How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?”(H)
12 Such are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.(I)
13 All in vain I have kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.(J)
14 For all day long I have been plagued
and am punished every morning.(K)
15 If I had said, “I will talk on in this way,”
I would have been untrue to the circle of your children.
16 But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,(L)
17 until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I perceived their end.(M)
18 Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.(N)
19 How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!(O)
20 They are[c] like a dream when one awakes;
on awaking you despise their phantoms.(P)
21 When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
22 I was stupid and ignorant;
I was like a brute beast toward you.(Q)
23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me with honor.[d](R)
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you.(S)
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength[e] of my heart and my portion forever.(T)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.