Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 68^[a]

Song of Victory

¹ For the director.^[b] A psalm of David. A song.

Chapter 22

Sacrifice of the Son.^{[a] 1} Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham, Abraham!” He replied, “Here I am!”

² God said, “Take your son, your only son, the one you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah^[b] and offer him as a burnt offering on the mountain that I will show you.”

³ Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled a donkey, and took two servants and his son Isaac with him. He also took the wood for the burnt offering and set out toward the place about which God had spoken. ⁴ On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw that place from a distance. ⁵ Abraham said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there. We will worship and then we will return to you.” ⁶ Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and loaded it upon his son Isaac. He himself carried the fire and the knife. They then set out together. ⁷ Isaac turned to his father Abraham and said, “My father!”

He answered, “Here I am, my son.”

He continued, “Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

⁸ Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son!” And the two of them went on together.

⁹ They then arrived at the place of which God had spoken. There Abraham built an altar and piled up the wood. He tied up his son Isaac and placed him upon the altar so that he was lying upon the wood. ¹⁰ Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to kill his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the Lord called out from heaven and said, “Abraham! Abraham!”

He answered, “Here I am.”

¹² The angel said, “Do not reach out your hand against the boy! Do not harm him in any way! Now I know that you fear God and you have not even withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

¹³ Abraham looked up and saw a ram that had its horns caught in a bush. Abraham took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

¹⁴ Abraham called that place, “The Lord will provide,” for he said, “On the mountain the Lord provided.”

Chapter 2

The Council of Jerusalem^[a]

Confirmation of Paul’s Gospel and Mission. ¹ Fourteen years later, I traveled up to Jerusalem again, this time with Barnabas, and I also took along Titus. ² I went up in response to a revelation, and I set before them the gospel that I preach to the Gentiles—in a private meeting with the leaders—to ensure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain.

³ Yet not even Titus, who was accompanying me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. ⁴ Yet some false brethren were secretly brought in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might reduce us to slavery. ⁵ But not for a single moment did we submit to them, in order that the truth of the gospel might remain untouched for you.

⁶ As for those who were regarded as men of importance—whether or not they actually were important makes no difference to me, nor does it matter to God—these men did not add anything further to my message. ⁷ On the contrary, they realized that I had been entrusted with preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with preaching the gospel to the circumcised ( ⁸ for the one who worked through Peter in his mission to the Jews was also at work in me in my mission to the Gentiles).

⁹ Therefore, when James and Cephas and John, who were acknowledged as pillars of the community, recognized the grace that had been bestowed upon me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles while they concentrated on the Jews. ¹⁰ They asked only one thing: that we remember the poor, which is the very thing I was eager to do.