Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 15
A Psalm of David.
1 Lord, who shall dwell [temporarily] in Your tabernacle? Who shall dwell [permanently] on Your holy hill?
2 He who walks and lives uprightly and blamelessly, who works rightness and justice and speaks and thinks the truth in his heart,
3 He who does not slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his friend, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor;
4 In whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he who honors those who fear the Lord (who revere and worship Him); who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
5 [He who] does not put out his money for [a]interest [to one of his own people] and who will not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.(A)
13 So Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the South [country of Judah, the Negeb].
2 Now Abram was extremely rich in livestock and in silver and in gold.
3 And he journeyed on from the South [country of Judah, the Negeb] as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,
4 Where he had built an altar at first; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.(A)
5 But Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.
6 Now the land was not able to nourish and support them so they could dwell together, for their possessions were too great for them to live together.
7 And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdsmen of Lot’s cattle. And the Canaanite and the Perizzite were dwelling then in the land [making fodder more difficult to obtain].
8 So Abram said to Lot, Let there be no strife, I beg of you, between you and me, or between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are relatives.
9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself, I beg of you, from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if you choose the right hand, then I will go to the left.
10 And Lot looked and saw that everywhere the Jordan Valley was well watered. Before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, [it was all] like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar.
11 Then Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley and [he] traveled east. So they separated.
12 Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the [Jordan] Valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom and dwelt there.
13 But the men of Sodom were wicked and exceedingly great sinners against the Lord.
14 The Lord said to Abram after Lot had left him, Lift up now your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward;
15 For all the land which you see I will give to you and to your posterity forever.(B)
16 And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if a man could count the dust of the earth, then could your descendants also be counted.(C)
17 Arise, walk through the land, the length of it and the breadth of it, for I will give it to you.
18 Then Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt among the oaks or terebinths of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and built there an altar to the Lord.
14 For this reason [[a]seeing the greatness of this plan by which you are built together in Christ], I bow my knees before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 For Whom every family in heaven and on earth is named [that Father from Whom all fatherhood takes its title and derives its name].
16 May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].
17 May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,
18 That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God’s devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];
19 [That you may really come] to know [practically, [b]through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses [c]mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] [d]unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and [e]become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!
20 Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]—
21 To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen (so be it).
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