Book of Common Prayer

The Thirsting Soul Satisfied in God.

A Psalm of David; when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

A Call to Praise the Lord for His Righteousness.

A ^[a]Psalm.

Praise for the Lord’s Mercies.

A Psalm of David.

² Now Abram was extremely rich in livestock and in silver and in gold. ³ He journeyed on from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴ where he had first built an altar; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord [in prayer].^{(A) 5} But Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. ⁶ Now the land was not able to support them [that is, sustain all their grazing and water needs] while they lived near one another, for their possessions were too great for them to stay together. ⁷ And there was strife and quarreling between the herdsmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdsmen of Lot’s cattle. Now the Canaanite and the Perizzite were living in the land at that same time [making grazing of the livestock difficult].

⁸ So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife and disagreement between you and me, nor between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, because we are relatives. ⁹ Is not the entire land before you? Please separate [yourself] from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or if you choose the right, then I will go to the left.” ¹⁰ So Lot looked and saw that the valley of the Jordan was well watered everywhere—this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; [it was all] like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar [at the south end of the Dead Sea]. ¹¹ Then Lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan, and he traveled east. So they separated from each other. ¹² Abram settled in the land of Canaan, and Lot settled in the cities of the valley and camped as far as Sodom and lived there. ¹³ But the men of Sodom were extremely wicked and sinful against the Lord [unashamed in their open sin before Him].

¹⁴ The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had left him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are standing, northward and southward and eastward and westward; ¹⁵ for all the land which you see I will give to you and to your descendants forever.^{(B) 16} I will make your descendants [as numerous] as the dust of the earth, so that if a man could count the [grains of] dust of the earth, then your descendants could also be counted.^{(C) 17} Arise, walk (make a thorough reconnaissance) around in the land, through its length and its width, for I will give it to you.” ¹⁸ Then Abram broke camp and moved his tent, and came and settled by the [grove of the great] terebinths (oak trees) of Mamre [the Amorite], which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to [honor] the Lord.

The Council at Jerusalem

2 Then after a period of fourteen years I again went up to Jerusalem, [this time] with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. ² I went up [to Jerusalem] because of a [divine] revelation, and I put before them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so in private before those of ^[a]reputation, for fear that I might be running or had run [the course of my ministry] in vain. ³ But [all went well, for] not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled [as some had anticipated] to be circumcised, despite the fact that he was a Greek. ⁴ My concern was because of the ^[b]false brothers [those people masquerading as Christians] who had been secretly smuggled in [to the community of believers]. They had slipped in to spy on the freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us back into bondage [under the Law of Moses]. ⁵ But we did not yield to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would continue to remain with you [in its purity]. ⁶ But from those who were of high reputation (whatever they were—in terms of individual importance—makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality—He is not impressed with the positions that people hold nor does He recognize distinctions such as fame or power)—well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me [that is, they had nothing to add to my gospel message nor did they impose any new requirements on me].^{(A) 7} But on the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised (Gentiles), just as Peter had been [entrusted to proclaim the gospel] to the circumcised (Jews); ⁸ (for He who worked effectively for Peter and empowered him in his ministry to the Jews also worked effectively for me and empowered me in my ministry to the Gentiles). ⁹ And recognizing the grace [that God had] bestowed on me, James and Cephas (Peter) and John, who were reputed to be pillars [of the Jerusalem church], gave to me and Barnabas the ^[c]right hand of fellowship, so that we could go to the Gentiles [with their blessing] and they to the circumcised (Jews). ¹⁰ They asked only [one thing], that we remember the poor, the very thing I was also eager to do.

³¹ Soon after this Jesus left the region of Tyre, and passed through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of Decapolis [the ten Hellenistic cities]. ³² They brought to Him a man who was deaf and had difficulty speaking, and they begged Jesus to place His hand on him. ³³ Jesus, taking him aside by himself, away from the crowd, put His fingers into the man’s ears, and after spitting, He touched the man’s tongue [with the saliva]; ³⁴ and looking up to heaven, He sighed deeply and said to the man, “Ephphatha,” which [in Aramaic] means, “^[a]Be opened and released!” ³⁵ And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he began speaking plainly. ³⁶ Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it. ³⁷ They were thoroughly astounded and completely overwhelmed, saying, “He has done everything well! He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”