Birth of Isaac Promised

18 Now ^(A)the Lord appeared to ^[a]Abraham by the ^[b](B)oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. ² When he raised his eyes and looked, behold, three ^(C)men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed down to the ground, ³ and said, “^[c]My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not ^[d]pass Your servant by. ⁴ Please let a little water be brought and ^(D)wash ^[e]your feet, and make yourselves comfortable under the tree; ⁵ and I will ^[f](E)bring a piece of bread, so that you may ^[g]refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have ^[h]visited your servant.” And they said, “So do as you have said.” ⁶ So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “^[i]Quickly, prepare three ^[j]measures of fine flour, knead it, and make bread cakes.” ⁷ Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and ^[k]choice calf and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it. ⁸ He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree ^[l]as they ate.

⁹ Then they said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” ¹⁰ He said, “^(F)I will certainly return to you ^[m]at this time next year; and behold, your wife Sarah will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. ¹¹ Now ^(G)Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was ^(H)past ^[n]childbearing. ¹² So Sarah laughed ^[o]to herself, saying, “^(I)After I have become old, am I to have pleasure, my ^(J)lord being old also?” ¹³ But the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I actually give birth to a child, when I am so old?’ ^14 (K)Is anything too ^[p]difficult for the Lord? At the ^(L)appointed time I will return to you, ^[q]at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” ¹⁵ Sarah denied it, however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

¹⁶ Then ^(M)the men rose up from there, and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off. ^17 (N)The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham ^(O)what I am about to do, ¹⁸ since Abraham will certainly become a great and ^[r]mighty nation, and in him ^(P)all the nations of the earth will be blessed? ¹⁹ For I have ^[s](Q)chosen him, so that he may ^(R)command his children and his household after him to ^(S)keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham ^(T)what He has spoken about him.” ²⁰ And the Lord said, “^(U)The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. ²¹ I will ^(V)go down now and see whether they have done entirely as the outcry, which has come to Me indicates; and if not, I will know.”

Abraham Appeals for Sodom

²² Then ^(W)the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before ^(X)the Lord. ²³ Abraham approached and said, “^(Y)Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴ Suppose there are fifty righteous people within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not ^[t]spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? ²⁵ Far be it from You to do ^[u]such a thing, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not ^(Z)the Judge of all the earth ^[v]deal justly?” ²⁶ So the Lord said, “^(AA)If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will ^[w]spare the entire place on their account.” ²⁷ And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ^[x]ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am only ^(AB)dust and ashes. ²⁸ Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the entire city because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” ²⁹ And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it on account of the forty.” ³⁰ Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” ³¹ And he said, “Now behold, I have ^[y]ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.” ³² Then he said, “^(AC)Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once: suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.” ³³ As soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham ^(AD)the Lord departed, and Abraham returned to his place.

The Doom of Sodom

19 Now the ^(AE)two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. When ^(AF)Lot saw them, he stood up to meet them and ^[z]bowed down with his face to the ground. ² And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said, “No, but we shall spend the night in the public square.” ³ Yet he strongly urged them, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; ^(AG)and he prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. ⁴ Before they lay down, ^(AH)the men of the city—the men of Sodom—surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people ^[aa]from every quarter; ⁵ and they called to Lot and said to him, “^(AI)Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may ^[ab]have relations with them.” ⁶ But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, ⁷ and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. ⁸ Now look, ^(AJ)I have two daughters who have not ^[ac]had relations with any man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them ^[ad]whatever you like; only do not do anything to these men, because they have come under the ^[ae]shelter of my roof.” ⁹ But they said, “Get out of the way!” They also said, “This one came in ^[af]as a foreigner, and already ^(AK)he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them!” So they pressed hard against ^[ag]Lot and moved forward to break the door. ¹⁰ But ^(AL)the men reached out their ^[ah]hands and brought Lot into the house ^[ai]with them, and shut the door. ¹¹ Then ^(AM)they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, from the small to the great, so that they became weary of trying to find the doorway.

¹² Then the two men said to Lot, “Whom else do you have here? A son-in-law and your sons and daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place; ¹³ for we are about to destroy this place, because ^(AN)their outcry has become so great before the Lord that ^(AO)the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴ So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who ^[aj]were to marry his daughters, and said, “Up, ^(AP)get out of this place, for the Lord is destroying the city.” ^(AQ)But he appeared to his sons-in-law ^[ak]to be joking.

¹⁵ When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the ^[al]punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ But he hesitated. So the men ^(AR)grasped his hand and the hand of his wife and the ^[am]hands of his two daughters, because ^(AS)the compassion of the Lord was upon him; and they brought him out and put him outside the city. ¹⁷ When they had brought them outside, ^[an]one said, “^(AT)Escape for your life! ^(AU)Do not look behind you, and do not stay ^[ao]anywhere in the ^(AV)surrounding area; escape to ^(AW)the ^[ap]mountains, or you will be swept away.” ¹⁸ But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords! ¹⁹ Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your compassion, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the ^[aq]mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die; ²⁰ now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) ^[ar]so that my life may be saved.” ²¹ And he said to him, “Behold, I grant you this ^[as]request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken. ²² Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the town was named ^[at](AX)Zoar.

²³ The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord ^(AY)rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of heaven, ²⁵ and ^(AZ)He overthrew those cities, and all the surrounding area, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶ But ^[au]Lot’s wife, from behind him, ^(BA)looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ Now Abraham got up early in the morning and went to ^(BB)the place where he had stood before the Lord; ²⁸ and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the surrounding area; and ^[av]behold, he saw ^(BC)the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a ^[aw]furnace.

²⁹ So it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the surrounding area, that ^(BD)God remembered Abraham, and ^(BE)sent Lot out of the midst of the destruction, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.

Lot and His Daughters

³⁰ Now Lot went up from Zoar with his two daughters and ^(BF)stayed in the ^[ax]mountains, because he was afraid to stay in Zoar; and he stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters. ³¹ Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man ^[ay]on earth to ^[az](BG)have relations with us according to the custom of all the earth. ³² Come, ^(BH)let’s make our father drink wine, and let’s sleep with him so that we may keep ^[ba]our family alive through our father.” ³³ So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and slept with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or got up. ³⁴ On the following day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Look, I slept last night with my father; let’s make him drink wine tonight too, then you go in and sleep with him, so that we may keep ^[bb]our family alive through our father.” ³⁵ So they had their father drink wine that night too, and the younger got up and slept with him; and he did not know when she lay down or got up. ³⁶ And so both of the daughters of Lot conceived by their father. ³⁷ The firstborn gave birth to a son, and named him ^(BI)Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ As for the younger, she also gave birth to a son, and named him Ben-ammi; he is the father of ^[bc]the sons of ^(BJ)Ammon to this day.

Morning Prayer of Trust in God.

A Psalm of David, when ^[a]he fled from his son Absalom.

Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Slave

7 ^(A)When He had completed all His ^[a]teaching in the hearing of the people, ^(B)He went to Capernaum.

² Now a centurion’s slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. ³ When he heard about Jesus, ^(C)he sent some ^[b]Jewish elders to Him, asking Him to come and save the life of his slave. ⁴ When they came to Jesus, they strongly urged Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him; ⁵ for he loves our nation, and it was he who built us our synagogue.” ⁶ Now Jesus started on His way with them; but already, when He was not yet far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, “^[c]Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to enter under my roof; ⁷ for that reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You; but just ^[d]say the word, and my servant ^[e]shall be healed. ⁸ For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under myself; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” ⁹ Now when Jesus heard this, He was amazed at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, “I say to you, ^(D)not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” ¹⁰ And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

¹¹ Soon afterward Jesus went to a city called Nain; and His disciples were going along with Him, ^[f]accompanied by a large crowd. ¹² Now as He approached the gate of the city, ^[g]a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her. ¹³ When ^(E)the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her and said to her, “Do not go on weeping.” ¹⁴ And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!” ¹⁵ And the dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother. ^16 (F)Fear gripped them all, and they began ^(G)glorifying God, saying, “A great ^(H)prophet has appeared among us!” and, “God has ^[h]visited His people!” ^17 (I)And this report about Him spread throughout Judea and in all the surrounding region.

The Messengers from John

^18 (J)The disciples of John also reported to him about all these things. ¹⁹ And after summoning ^[i]two of his disciples, John sent them to ^(K)the Lord, saying, “Are You the Coming One, or are we to ^[j]look for another?” ²⁰ When the men came to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, ^[k]to ask, ‘Are You the Coming One, or are we to ^[l]look for another?’” ²¹ At that very ^[m]time He ^(L)cured many people of diseases and ^(M)afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind. ²² And He answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: people who were ^(N)blind receive sight, people who limped walk, people with leprosy are cleansed and people who were deaf hear, dead people are raised up, and ^(O)people who are poor have the gospel preached to them. ²³ And blessed is ^[n]anyone who does not take offense at Me.”

²⁴ When the messengers of John had left, He began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the ^[o]wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? ^25 [p]But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who are splendidly clothed and live in luxury are found in royal palaces! ²⁶ But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet. ²⁷ This is the one about whom it is written:

²⁸ I say to you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is ^[r]least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” ²⁹ When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they acknowledged ^(Q)God’s justice, ^(R)having been baptized with ^(S)the baptism of John. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the ^[s](T)lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves, not having been baptized by ^[t]John.

³¹ “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? ³² They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a song of mourning, and you did not weep.’ ³³ For John the Baptist has come neither ^(U)eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ ³⁴ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a ^[u]heavy drinker, a friend of tax collectors and ^[v]sinners!’ ³⁵ And yet wisdom ^(V)is vindicated by all her children.”

The Anointing in Galilee

³⁶ Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to eat with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. ^37 (W)And there was a woman in the city who was a ^[w]sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, ³⁸ and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, and began kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. ³⁹ Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were ^(X)a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a ^[x]sinner!”

Parable of Two Debtors

⁴⁰ And Jesus responded and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he ^[y]replied, “Say it, Teacher.” ⁴¹ “A moneylender had two debtors: the one owed five hundred ^[z](Y)denarii, and the other, fifty. ⁴² When they ^(Z)were unable to repay, he canceled the debts of both. So which of them will love him more?” ⁴³ Simon answered and said, “I assume the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” ⁴⁴ And turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you ^(AA)gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵ You ^[aa](AB)gave Me no kiss; but she has not stopped kissing My feet since the time I came in. ^46 (AC)You did not ^[ab]anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. ⁴⁷ For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but the one who is forgiven little, loves little.” ⁴⁸ And He said to her, “^(AD)Your sins have been forgiven.” ⁴⁹ And then those who were reclining at the table with Him began saying ^[ac]to themselves, “^(AE)Who is this man who even forgives sins?” ⁵⁰ And He said to the woman, “^(AF)Your faith has saved you; ^(AG)go in peace.”