Book of Common Prayer

A psalm of David when he was in the Desert of Judah.

A psalm.

A psalm of David.

² Abram had become very rich. He had a lot of livestock and silver and gold.

³ Abram left the Negev Desert. He went from place to place until he came to Bethel. Then he came to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier. ⁴ There he called on the name of the Lord at the altar he had built.

⁵ Lot was moving around with Abram. Lot also had flocks and herds and tents. ⁶ But the land didn’t have enough food for both Abram and Lot. They had large herds and many servants, so they weren’t able to stay together. ⁷ The people who took care of Abram’s herds and those who took care of Lot’s herds began to argue. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.

⁸ So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not argue with each other. The people taking care of your herds and those taking care of mine shouldn’t argue with one another either. After all, we’re part of the same family. ⁹ Isn’t the whole land in front of you? Let’s separate. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right. If you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”

¹⁰ Lot looked around. He saw that the whole Jordan River valley toward the town of Zoar had plenty of water. It was like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. ¹¹ So Lot chose the whole Jordan River valley for himself. Then he started out toward the east. The two men separated. ¹² Abram lived in the land of Canaan. Lot lived among the cities of the Jordan River valley. He set up his tents near Sodom. ¹³ The people of Sodom were evil. They were sinning greatly against the Lord.

¹⁴ The Lord spoke to Abram after Lot had left him. He said, “Look around from where you are. Look north and south, east and west. ¹⁵ I will give you all the land you see. I will give it forever to you and your family who comes after you. ¹⁶ I will make them like the dust of the earth. Can dust be counted? If it can, then your family can be counted. ¹⁷ Go! Walk through the land. See how long and wide it is. I am giving it to you.”

¹⁸ So Abram went to live near the large trees of Mamre at Hebron. There he pitched his tents and built an altar to honor the Lord.

Paul Is Accepted by the Apostles

2 Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem. This time I went with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. ² I went because God showed me what he wanted me to do. I spoke in private to those who are respected as leaders. I told them the good news that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I wasn’t running my race for no purpose. And I wanted to know that I had not been running my race for no purpose. ³ Titus was with me. He was a Greek. But even he was not forced to be circumcised. ⁴ This matter came up because some people had slipped in among us. They had pretended to be believers. They wanted to find out about the freedom we have because we belong to Christ Jesus. They wanted to make us slaves again. ⁵ We didn’t give in to them for a moment. We did this so that the truth of the good news would be kept safe for you.

⁶ Some people in Jerusalem were thought to be important. But it makes no difference to me what they were. God does not treat people differently. Those people added nothing to my message. ⁷ In fact, it was just the opposite. They recognized the task I had been trusted with. It was the task of preaching the good news to the Gentiles. My task was like Peter’s task. He had been trusted with the task of preaching to the Jews. ⁸ God was working in Peter as an apostle to the Jews. God was also working in me as an apostle to the Gentiles. ⁹ James, Peter and John are respected as pillars in the church. They recognized the special grace given to me. So they shook my hand and the hand of Barnabas. They wanted to show they accepted us. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles. They would go to the Jews. ¹⁰ They asked only one thing. They wanted us to continue to remember poor people. That was what I had wanted to do all along.

Jesus Heals a Man Who Could Not Hear or Speak

³¹ Then Jesus left the area of Tyre and went through Sidon. He went down to the Sea of Galilee and into the area known as the Ten Cities. ³² There some people brought a man to Jesus. The man was deaf and could hardly speak. They begged Jesus to place his hand on the man.

³³ Jesus took the man to one side, away from the crowd. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. ³⁴ Jesus looked up to heaven. With a deep sigh, he said to the man, “Ephphatha!” That means “Be opened!” ³⁵ The man’s ears were opened. His tongue was freed up, and he began to speak clearly.

³⁶ Jesus ordered the people not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. ³⁷ People were really amazed. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes deaf people able to hear. And he makes those who can’t speak able to talk.”