¹³ Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ And Abraham called the name of the place, ^[a]The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

⁷ But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”

And he said, “Here I am, my son.”

Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the ^[a]lamb for a burnt offering?”

⁸ And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the ^(A)lamb for a ^(B)burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.

⁹ Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and ^(C)laid him on the altar, upon the wood. ¹⁰ And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

¹¹ But the ^(D)Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

So he said, “Here I am.”

¹² And He said, ^(E)“Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for ^(F)now I know that you fear God, since you have not ^(G)withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

⁴ So Samuel did what the Lord said, and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town ^(A)trembled at his coming, and said, ^(B)“Do you come peaceably?”

⁵ And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. ^(C)Sanctify^[a] yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice.

⁶ So it was, when they came, that he looked at ^(D)Eliab and ^(E)said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him!”

⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, ^(F)“Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have ^[b]refused him. ^(G)For^[c] the Lord does not see as man sees; for man ^(H)looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the ^(I)heart.”

A Prayer for Divine Scrutiny and Redemption

A Psalm of David.

The Greatest Gift

13 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. ² And though I have the gift of ^(A)prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, ^(B)so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ And ^(C)though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body ^[a]to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

^4 (D)Love suffers long and is ^(E)kind; love ^(F)does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not ^[b]puffed up; ⁵ does not behave rudely, ^(G)does not seek its own, is not provoked, ^[c]thinks no evil; ^6 (H)does not rejoice in iniquity, but ^(I)rejoices in the truth; ^7 (J)bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. ^9 (K)For we know in part and we prophesy in part. ¹⁰ But when that which is ^[d]perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.