The Steadfast Love of the Lord

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.

Jesus Calls Matthew

^9 (A)As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called ^(B)Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

¹⁰ And as Jesus^[a] reclined at table in the house, behold, many ^(C)tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. ¹¹ And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ^(D)“Why does your teacher eat with ^(E)tax collectors and sinners?” ¹² But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³ Go and learn ^(F)what this means: ^(G)‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For ^(H)I came not to call the righteous, ^(I)but sinners.”

A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed

^18 (A)While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and ^(B)knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” ¹⁹ And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples. ²⁰ And behold, a woman ^(C)who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched ^(D)the fringe of his garment, ²¹ for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” ²² Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, ^(E)“Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” ^(F)And instantly^[a] the woman was made well. ²³ And when Jesus came to the ruler's house and saw ^(G)the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, ²⁴ he said, “Go away, for ^(H)the girl is not dead but ^(I)sleeping.” And they laughed at him. ²⁵ But ^(J)when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and ^(K)took her by the hand, and the girl arose. ²⁶ And the report of this went through all that district.