Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Humanity is God’s Splendor
Psalm 8
1 For the music director, upon the Gittite lyre: a psalm of David.
2 Adonai our Lord,
how excellent is Your Name over all the earth!
You set Your splendor above the heavens.
3 Out of the mouths of babies and toddlers
You established power,[a] because of Your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
4 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which You established—
5 what is man, that You are mindful of him?
And the son of man, that You care for him?[b]
6 Yet You made him a little lower than the angels,
and crowned him with glory and majesty!
7 You gave him dominion over the works of Your hands.
You put all things under their feet:[c]
8 all sheep and oxen,
and also beasts of the field,
9 birds in the air, and fish in the ocean—
all passing through the paths of the seas.
10 Adonai our Lord, how excellent is Your Name over all the earth!
Sarah Renewed
20 Then Abraham journeyed from there to the land of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was dwelling as an outsider in Gerar, 2 Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” So King Abimelech of Gerar sent for and took Sarah. 3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream at night and said to him, “Behold, you are as good as dead, because of the woman whom you have taken—since she is a married woman.”
4 Now Abimelech had not come near her. So he said, “My Lord, will You slay a nation, even though innocent? 5 Didn’t he say to me, ‘She’s my sister’? And she herself even said, ‘He’s my brother.’ I did this with integrity of my heart and guiltlessness of my hands.”
6 Then God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I myself knew that you did this with integrity of your heart, so I, yes I Myself prevented you from sinning against Me. That is why I did not allow you to touch her. 7 So now, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet. And let him pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you will surely die—you and all who are yours.”
8 Abimelech rose early in the morning, called all his servants and spoke all these words in their ears—and the men were very frightened. 9 Then Abimelech called to Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us, and how have I sinned against you, that you brought great sin upon me and my kingdom? You’ve done to me things that should not be done!” 10 Abimelech also said to Abraham, “What motivated you to do this thing?”
11 Abraham said, “Because I thought, ‘There is certainly no fear of God in this place, so they’ll kill me, because of my wife.’ 12 And besides, she really is my sister. She’s my father’s daughter, though not my mother’s daughter. Then she became my wife. 13 So when God made me wander away from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is your loyalty that you must show me: in every place we go, say of me, ‘He is my brother.’”
14 Then Abimelech took sheep, cattle, male slaves and female slaves and gave them to Abraham, and returned his wife Sarah to him. 15 Then Abimelech said, “Look, my land is before you. Dwell wherever it pleases you.” 16 At the same time he said to Sarah, “Look, I’ve given a thousand shekels to your brother. Look, it is compensation for everything that happened—so to everyone with you, you are vindicated.”
17 Then Abraham prayed to God and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his female slaves so that they could bear children. 18 For Adonai had completely locked up every womb in Abimelech’s household because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
23 Now before faith came, we were being guarded under Torah—bound together until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 Therefore the Torah became our guardian to lead us to Messiah, so that we might be made right based on trusting. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. 26 For you are all sons of God through trusting in Messiah Yeshua. 27 For all of you who were immersed in Messiah have clothed yourselves with Messiah. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female—for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua. 29 And if you belong to Messiah, then you are Abraham’s seed—heirs according to the promise.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.