Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 128[a]
A song of ascents.[b]
128 How blessed is every one of the Lord’s loyal followers,[c]
each one who keeps his commands.[d]
2 You[e] will eat what you worked so hard to grow.[f]
You will be blessed and secure.[g]
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine[h]
in the inner rooms of your house;
your children[i] will be like olive branches,
as they sit all around your table.
4 Yes indeed, the man who fears the Lord
will be blessed in this way.[j]
5 May the Lord bless you[k] from Zion,
that you might see[l] Jerusalem prosper
all the days of your life,
6 and that you might see[m] your grandchildren.[n]
May Israel experience peace.[o]
17 For look, I am ready to create
new heavens and a new earth![a]
The former ones[b] will not be remembered;
no one will think about them anymore.[c]
18 But be happy and rejoice forevermore
over what I am about to create!
For look, I am ready to create Jerusalem to be a source of joy,[d]
and her people to be a source of happiness.[e]
19 Jerusalem will bring me joy,
and my people will bring me happiness.[f]
The sound of weeping or cries of sorrow
will never be heard in her again.
20 Never again will one of her infants live just a few days[g]
or an old man die before his time.[h]
Indeed, no one will die before the age of one hundred;[i]
anyone who fails to reach[j] the age of one hundred will be considered cursed.
21 They will build houses and live in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it,[k]
or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit,[l]
for my people will live as long as trees,[m]
and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced.[n]
23 They will not work in vain,
or give birth to children that will experience disaster.[o]
For the Lord will bless their children
and their descendants.[p]
24 Before they even call out,[q] I will respond;
while they are still speaking, I will hear.
25 A wolf and a lamb will graze together;[r]
a lion, like an ox, will eat straw,[s]
and a snake’s food will be dirt.[t]
They will no longer injure or destroy
on my entire royal mountain,”[u] says the Lord.
6 So even David himself speaks regarding the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed[a] are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the one[b] against whom the Lord will never count[c] sin.”[d]
9 Is this blessedness[e] then for[f] the circumcision[g] or also for[h] the uncircumcision? For we say, “faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.”[i] 10 How then was it credited to him? Was he circumcised at the time, or not? No, he was not circumcised but uncircumcised! 11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised,[j] so that he would become[k] the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised,[l] that they too could have righteousness credited to them. 12 And he is also the father of the circumcised,[m] who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham possessed when he was still uncircumcised.[n]
13 For the promise[o] to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not fulfilled through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
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