Trust in the Name of the Lord Our God

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

Abraham and Abimelech

20 From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between ^(A)Kadesh and Shur; and he ^(B)sojourned in ^(C)Gerar. ² And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, ^(D)“She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. ^3 (E)But God came to Abimelech ^(F)in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife.” ⁴ Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, ^(G)“Lord, will you kill an innocent people? ⁵ Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” ⁶ Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning ^(H)against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. ⁷ Now then, return the man's wife, ^(I)for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you ^(J)and all who are yours.”

⁸ So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things. And the men were very much afraid. ⁹ Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.” ¹⁰ And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see, that you did this thing?” ¹¹ Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, ^(K)‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and ^(L)they will kill me because of my wife.’ ¹² Besides, ^(M)she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. ¹³ And when ^(N)God caused me to wander from my father's house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, ^(O)say of me, “He is my brother.”’”

¹⁴ Then Abimelech ^(P)took sheep and oxen, and male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him. ¹⁵ And Abimelech said, “Behold, ^(Q)my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” ¹⁶ To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given ^(R)your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is ^(S)a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all^[a] who are with you, and before everyone you are vindicated.” ¹⁷ Then ^(T)Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. ¹⁸ For the Lord ^(U)had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

The Birth of Isaac

21 The Lord ^(V)visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah ^(W)as he had promised. ² And Sarah ^(X)conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age ^(Y)at the time of which God had spoken to him. ³ Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, ^(Z)Isaac.^{[b] 4} And Abraham ^(AA)circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, ^(AB)as God had commanded him. ^5 (AC)Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶ And Sarah said, ^(AD)“God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” ⁷ And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? ^(AE)Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

God Protects Hagar and Ishmael

⁸ And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. ⁹ But Sarah ^(AF)saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, ^(AG)laughing.^{[c] 10} So she said to Abraham, ^(AH)“Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” ¹¹ And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. ¹² But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for ^(AI)through Isaac shall your offspring be named. ¹³ And I will make ^(AJ)a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” ¹⁴ So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of ^(AK)Beersheba.

¹⁵ When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. ¹⁷ And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. ¹⁸ Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” ¹⁹ Then ^(AL)God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. ²⁰ And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness ^(AM)and became an expert with the bow. ²¹ He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

The Transfiguration

^2 (A)And after six days Jesus took with him ^(B)Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was ^(C)transfigured before them, ³ and ^(D)his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one^[a] on earth could bleach them. ⁴ And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. ⁵ And Peter said to Jesus, ^(E)“Rabbi,^[b] it is good that we are here. Let us make three ^(F)tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” ⁶ For ^(G)he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. ⁷ And ^(H)a cloud overshadowed them, and ^(I)a voice came out of the cloud, ^(J)“This is my beloved Son;^{[c] (K)}listen to him.” ⁸ And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.

^9 (L)And as they were coming down the mountain, ^(M)he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, ^(N)until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. ^10 (O)So they kept the matter to themselves, ^(P)questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. ¹¹ And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say ^(Q)that first Elijah must come?” ¹² And he said to them, “Elijah does come first ^(R)to restore all things. And ^(S)how is it written of the Son of Man that he should ^(T)suffer many things and ^(U)be treated with contempt? ¹³ But I tell you that Elijah has come, and ^(V)they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”

Jesus Heals a Boy with an Unclean Spirit

^14 (W)And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. ¹⁵ And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, ^(X)were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. ¹⁶ And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” ¹⁷ And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has ^(Y)a spirit that makes him mute. ¹⁸ And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and ^(Z)they were not able.” ¹⁹ And he answered them, “O ^(AA)faithless generation, ^(AB)how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” ²⁰ And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it ^(AC)convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. ²¹ And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. ²² And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But ^(AD)if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” ²³ And Jesus said to him, ^(AE)“‘If you can’! ^(AF)All things are possible for one who believes.” ²⁴ Immediately the father of the child cried out^[d] and said, “I believe; ^(AG)help my unbelief!” ²⁵ And when Jesus saw that ^(AH)a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, ^(AI)“You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” ²⁶ And after crying out and ^(AJ)convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” ²⁷ But Jesus ^(AK)took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. ²⁸ And when he had ^(AL)entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” ²⁹ And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”^[e]