Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 140
For the music leader. A psalm of David.
140 Rescue me from evil people, Lord!
Guard me from violent people
2 who plot evil things in their hearts,
who pick fights every single day!
3 They sharpen their tongues like a snake’s;
spider poison[a] is on their lips. Selah
4 Protect me from the power of the wicked, Lord!
Guard me from violent people
who plot to trip me up!
5 Arrogant people have laid a trap for me with ropes.
They’ve spread out a net alongside the road.
They’ve set snares for me. Selah
6 I tell the Lord, “You are my God!
Listen to my request for mercy, Lord!”
7 My Lord God, my strong saving help—
you’ve protected my head on the day of battle.
8 Lord, don’t give the wicked what they want!
Don’t allow their plans to succeed,
or they’ll exalt themselves even more![b] Selah
9 Let the heads of the people surrounding me
be covered with the trouble their own lips caused![c]
10 Let burning coals fall on them!
Let them fall into deep pits and never get out again!
11 Let no slanderer be safe in the land.
Let calamity hunt down violent people—and quickly![d]
12 I know that the Lord will take up the case of the poor
and will do what is right for the needy.
13 Yes, the righteous will give thanks to your name,
and those who do right will live in your presence.
34 The man said, “I am Abraham’s servant. 35 The Lord has richly blessed my master, has made him a great man, and has given him flocks, cattle, silver, gold, men servants, women servants, camels, and donkeys. 36 My master’s wife Sarah gave birth to a son for my master in her old age, and he’s given him everything he owns. 37 My master made me give him my word: ‘Don’t choose a wife for my son from the Canaanite women, in whose land I’m living. 38 No, instead, go to my father’s household and to my relatives and choose a wife for my son.’ 39 I said to my master, ‘What if the woman won’t come back with me?’ 40 He said to me, ‘The Lord, whom I’ve traveled with everywhere, will send his messenger with you and make your trip successful; and you will choose a wife for my son from my relatives and from my father’s household. 41 If you go to my relatives, you will be free from your obligation to me. Even if they provide no one for you, you will be free from your obligation to me.’
50 Laban and Bethuel both responded, “This is all the Lord’s doing. We have nothing to say about it. 51 Here is Rebekah, right in front of you. Take her and go. She will be the wife of your master’s son, just as the Lord said.” 52 When Abraham’s servant heard what they said, he bowed low before the Lord. 53 The servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and clothing and gave them to Rebekah. To her brother and to her mother he gave the finest gifts. 54 He and the men with him ate and drank and spent the night.
When they got up in the morning, the servant said, “See me off to my master.”
55 Her brother and mother said, “Let the young woman stay with us not more than ten days, and after that she may go.”
56 But he said to them, “Don’t delay me. The Lord has made my trip successful. See me off so that I can go to my master.”
57 They said, “Summon the young woman, and let’s ask her opinion.” 58 They called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?”
She said, “I will go.”
59 So they sent off their sister Rebekah, her nurse, Abraham’s servant, and his men. 60 And they blessed Rebekah, saying to her,
“May you, our sister, become
thousands of ten thousand;
may your children possess
their enemies’ cities.”
61 Rebekah and her young women got up, mounted the camels, and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.
62 Now Isaac had come from the region of[a] Beer-lahai-roi and had settled in the arid southern plain. 63 One evening, Isaac went out to inspect the pasture,[b] and while staring he saw camels approaching. 64 Rebekah stared at Isaac. She got down from the camel 65 and said to the servant, “Who is this man walking through the pasture to meet us?”
The servant said, “He’s my master.” So she took her headscarf and covered herself. 66 The servant told Isaac everything that had happened. 67 Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah’s tent. He received Rebekah as his wife and loved her. So Isaac found comfort after his mother’s death.
7 Dear friends, I’m not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the message you heard. 8 On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light already shines. 9 The one who claims to be in the light while hating a brother or sister is in the darkness even now. 10 The person loving a brother and sister stays in the light, and there is nothing in the light that causes a person to stumble. 11 But the person who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and lives in the darkness, and doesn’t know where to go because the darkness blinds the eyes.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible