Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

8 O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth, who hast set Thy glory above the heavens!

² Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength because of Thine enemies, that Thou mightest 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 honor.

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 fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

⁹ O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth!

23 And Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years old; these were the years of the life of Sarah.

² And Sarah died in Kirjatharba (the same is Hebron) in the land of Canaan; and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

³ And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spoke unto the sons of Heth, saying,

⁴ “I am a stranger and a sojourner with you. Give me a possession for a burying place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

⁵ And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him,

⁶ “Hear us, my lord: Thou art a mighty prince among us; in the choicest of our sepulchers bury thy dead. None of us shall withhold from thee his sepulcher, that thou mayest bury thy dead.”

⁷ And Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth.

⁸ And he communed with them, saying, “If it be in your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar,

⁹ that he may give me the cave of Machpelah which he hath, which is in the end of his field. For as much money as it is worth he shall give it to me as a possession for a burying place amongst you.”

¹⁰ And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even of all who went in at the gate of his city, saying,

¹¹ “Nay, my lord, hear me: The field give I thee; and the cave that is therein, I give it to thee. In the presence of the sons of my people give I it to thee; bury thy dead.”

¹² And Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land.

¹³ And he spoke unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, “But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee, hear me. I will give thee money for the field. Take it from me, and I will bury my dead there.”

¹⁴ And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him,

¹⁵ “My lord, hearken unto me: The land is worth four hundred shekels of silver. What is that between me and thee? Bury therefore thy dead.”

¹⁶ And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed the silver for Ephron which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth: four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.

¹⁷ And the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field that were in all the borders round about, were secured

¹⁸ unto Abraham as a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city.

¹⁹ And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre (the same is Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

²⁰ And the field and the cave that is therein were secured unto Abraham as a possession for a burying place by the sons of Heth.

¹⁴ And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things, and they derided Him.

¹⁵ And He said unto them, “Ye are they who justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

¹⁶ “The Law and the Prophets were until John. Since that time the Kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.

¹⁷ And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than one tittle of the law to fail.

¹⁸ “Whosoever putteth away his wife and marrieth another committeth adultery; and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.