The Call of Abram

12 Now ^(A)the Lord said^[a] to Abram, “Go from your country^[b] and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. ^2 (B)And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ^3 (C)I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and ^(D)in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”^[c]

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from ^(E)Haran. ⁵ And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, ⁶ Abram ^(F)passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to ^(G)the oak^[d] of ^(H)Moreh. At that time ^(I)the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷ Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ^(J)“To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. ⁸ From there he moved to the hill country on the east of ^(K)Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. ⁹ And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

Jacob's Dream

¹⁰ Jacob left ^(A)Beersheba and went toward ^(B)Haran. ¹¹ And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. ¹² And he ^(C)dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder^[a] set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, ^(D)the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! ¹³ And behold, ^(E)the Lord stood above it^[b] and said, ^(F)“I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. ^(G)The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. ¹⁴ Your offspring shall be like ^(H)the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and ^(I)your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. ¹⁵ Behold, ^(J)I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and ^(K)will bring you back to this land. For I will ^(L)not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” ¹⁶ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is ^(M)in this place, and I did not know it.” ¹⁷ And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

¹⁸ So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up ^(N)for a pillar ^(O)and poured oil on the top of it. ¹⁹ He called the name of that place ^(P)Bethel,^[c] but the name of the city was Luz at the first. ²⁰ Then Jacob ^(Q)made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, ^21 (R)so that I come again to my father's house in peace, ^(S)then the Lord shall be my God, ²² and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, ^(T)shall be God's house. And ^(U)of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

⁴ Now ^(A)there are varieties of gifts, but ^(B)the same Spirit; ⁵ and ^(C)there are varieties of service, but ^(D)the same Lord; ⁶ and there are varieties of activities, but it is ^(E)the same God who empowers them all in everyone. ^7 (F)To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. ⁸ For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of ^(G)wisdom, and to another the utterance of ^(H)knowledge according to the same Spirit, ⁹ to another ^(I)faith by the same Spirit, to another ^(J)gifts of healing by the one Spirit, ¹⁰ to another ^(K)the working of miracles, to another ^(L)prophecy, to another ^(M)the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another ^(N)various kinds of tongues, to another ^(O)the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, ^(P)who apportions to each one individually ^(Q)as he wills.

One Body with Many Members

¹² For just as ^(R)the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, ^(S)so it is with Christ. ¹³ For ^(T)in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—^(U)Jews or Greeks, slaves^[a] or free—and ^(V)all were made to drink of one Spirit.

¹⁴ For the body does not consist of one member but of many. ¹⁵ If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? ¹⁸ But as it is, ^(W)God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, ^(X)as he chose. ¹⁹ If all were a single member, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts,^[b] yet one body.

²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” ²² On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, ²⁴ which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, ²⁵ that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. ²⁶ If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, ^(Y)all rejoice together.

²⁷ Now ^(Z)you are the body of Christ and individually ^(AA)members of it. ²⁸ And ^(AB)God has appointed in the church first ^(AC)apostles, second ^(AD)prophets, third teachers, then ^(AE)miracles, then ^(AF)gifts of healing, ^(AG)helping, ^(AH)administrating, and ^(AI)various kinds of tongues. ²⁹ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? ³⁰ Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? ³¹ But ^(AJ)earnestly desire the higher gifts.

And I will show you a still more excellent way.