Book of Common Prayer

¹⁵ God said to Avraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are not to call her Sarai [mockery]; her name is to be Sarah [princess]. ¹⁶ I will bless her; moreover, I will give you a son by her. Truly I will bless her: she will be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” ¹⁷ At this Avraham fell on his face and laughed — he thought to himself, “Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah give birth at ninety?” ¹⁸ Avraham said to God, “If only Yishma‘el could live in your presence!” ¹⁹ God answered, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you are to call him Yitz’chak [laughter]. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. ²⁰ But as for Yishma‘el, I have heard you. I have blessed him. I will make him fruitful and give him many descendants. He will father twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. ²¹ But I will establish my covenant with Yitz’chak, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.” ²² With that, God finished speaking with Avraham and went up from him.

²³ Avraham took Yishma‘el his son, all the slaves born in his house and all who had been bought with his money, every male among the people in Avraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin that very day, just as God had said to him.

(Maftir) ²⁴ Avraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, ²⁵ and Yishma‘el his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶ Avraham and Yishma‘el his son were circumcised on the same day; ²⁷ and all the men in his household, both slaves born in his house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

Haftarah Lekh L’kha: Yesha‘yahu (Isaiah) 40:27–41:16

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Lekh L’kha: Acts 7:1–8; Romans 3:19–5:6; Galatians 3:15–18; 5:1–6; Colossians 2:11–15; Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 7:1–19; 11:8–12

¹¹ Now every cohen stands every day doing his service, offering over and over the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ¹² But this one, after he had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ from then on to wait until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet.^{[a] 14} For by a single offering he has brought to the goal for all time those who are being set apart for God and made holy.

¹⁵ And the Ruach HaKodesh too bears witness to us; for after saying,

¹⁷ he then adds,

¹⁸ Now where there is forgiveness for these, an offering for sins is no longer needed.

¹⁹ So, brothers, we have confidence to use the way into the Holiest Place opened by the blood of Yeshua. ²⁰ He inaugurated it for us as a new and living way through the parokhet, by means of his flesh. ²¹ We also have a great cohen over God’s household. ²² Therefore, let us approach the Holiest Place with a sincere heart, in the full assurance that comes from trusting — with our hearts sprinkled clean from a bad conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.^{[d] 23} Let us continue holding fast to the hope we acknowledge, without wavering; for the One who made the promise is trustworthy. ²⁴ And let us keep paying attention to one another, in order to spur each other on to love and good deeds, ²⁵ not neglecting our own congregational meetings, as some have made a practice of doing, but, rather, encouraging each other.

And let us do this all the more as you see the Day approaching.

6 Some time later, Yeshua went over to the far side of Lake Kinneret (that is, Lake Tiberias), ² and a large crowd followed him, because they had seen the miracles he had performed on the sick. ³ Yeshua went up into the hills and sat down there with his talmidim. ⁴ Now the Judean festival of Pesach was coming up; ⁵ so when Yeshua looked up and saw that a large crowd was approaching, he said to Philip, “Where will we be able to buy bread, so that these people can eat?” ⁶ (Now Yeshua said this to test Philip, for Yeshua himself knew what he was about to do.) ⁷ Philip answered, “Half a year’s wages wouldn’t buy enough bread for them — each one would get only a bite!” ⁸ One of the talmidim, Andrew the brother of Shim‘on Kefa, said to him, ⁹ “There’s a young fellow here who has five loaves of barley bread and two fish. But how far will they go among so many?”

¹⁰ Yeshua said, “Have the people sit down.” There was a lot of grass there, so they sat down. The number of men was about five thousand. ¹¹ Then Yeshua took the loaves of bread, and, after making a b’rakhah, gave to all who were sitting there, and likewise with the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹² After they had eaten their fill, he told his talmidim, “Gather the leftover pieces, so that nothing gets wasted.” ¹³ They gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.

¹⁴ When the people saw the miracle he had performed, they said, “This has to be ‘the prophet’ who is supposed to come into the world.” ¹⁵ Yeshua knew that they were on the point of coming and seizing him, in order to make him king; so he went back to the hills again. This time he went by himself.