Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

To the Overcomer upon Gittith, A Psalm of David.

¹ ¶ O LORD our Lord, how great is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy praise above the heavens.

² Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou might still the enemy and the avenger.

³ ¶ When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

⁴ what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou dost visit him?

⁵ For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels and hast crowned him with glory and beauty.

⁶ Thou hast made him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

⁷ all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

⁸ The birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, and whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

⁹ O LORD our Lord, how great is thy name in all the earth!

20 ¶ And Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the Negev and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur and sojourned in Gerar.

² And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister. And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

³ ¶ But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, Behold, thou art a dead man, for the woman whom thou hast taken, for she is a man’s wife.

⁴ But Abimelech had not come near her, and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous person?

⁵ Did he not say unto me, She is my sister? And she, even she herself said, He is my brother; in the simplicity of my heart and cleanness of my hands I have done this.

⁶ And God said unto him in a dream, Yes, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me; therefore I did not allow thee to touch her.

⁷ Now therefore restore the man his wife, for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live. And if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou and all that are thine.

⁸ ¶ Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his slaves and told all these things in their ears; and the men feared greatly.

⁹ Then Abimelech called Abraham and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us and in what have I sinned against thee that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom such a great sin? Thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.

¹⁰ And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What didst thou see that thou hast done this thing?

¹¹ And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place, and they will slay me for my wife’s sake.

¹² And yet indeed, she is also my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.

¹³ And it came to pass when God caused me to wander from my father’s house that I said unto her, This is the mercy which thou shalt show unto me: at every place where we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.

¹⁴ ¶ Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen and menslaves and womenslaves and gave them unto Abraham and restored him Sarah his wife.

¹⁵ And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee; dwell where it pleases thee.

¹⁶ And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver; behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that were with thee and with everyone: thus she was reproved.

¹⁷ So Abraham prayed unto God; and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservants; and they bore children.

¹⁸ For the LORD had completely closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

²³ But before faith came, we were under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.

²⁴ Therefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

²⁵ But when faith is come, we are no longer under the hand of the schoolmaster.

²⁶ For ye are all sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

²⁷ For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

²⁸ Here there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

²⁹ And if ye are Christ’s, then ye are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.