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.

By Faith We Understand

11 Now faith is the ^[a]substance of things hoped for, the ^[b]evidence ^(A)of things not seen.

The Faith of the Patriarchs^(A)

¹⁷ By faith Abraham, ^(B)when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, ^18 [a]of whom it was said, ^(C)“In Isaac your seed shall be called,”

The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares

²⁴ Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; ²⁵ but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. ²⁶ But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. ²⁷ So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ ²⁸ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ ²⁹ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but ^(A)gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed^(B)

³¹ Another parable He put forth to them, saying: ^(C)“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, ³² which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a ^(D)tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

The Parable of the Leaven^(E)

^33 (F)Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three ^[a]measures of meal till ^(G)it was all leavened.”

Prophecy and the Parables

^34 (H)All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, ³⁵ that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: