Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

2 Hannah prayed, and said, My heart exults and triumphs in the Lord; my horn (my strength) is lifted up in the Lord. My mouth is no longer silent, for it is opened wide over my enemies, because I rejoice in Your salvation.

² There is none holy like the Lord, there is none besides You; there is no Rock like our God.

³ Talk no more so very proudly; let not arrogance go forth from your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed.

⁴ The bows of the mighty are broken, and those who stumbled are girded with strength.

⁵ Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children languishes and is forlorn.

⁶ The Lord slays and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.

⁷ The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and He lifts up.

⁸ He raises up the poor out of the dust and lifts up the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with nobles and inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and He has set the world upon them.

⁹ He will guard the feet of His godly ones, but the wicked shall be silenced and perish in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.

¹⁰ The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; against them will He thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge [all peoples] to the ends of the earth; and He will give strength to ^[a]His king (King) and exalt the power of His anointed (Anointed ^[b]His Christ).^(A)

21 The Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for her as He had promised.

² For Sarah became pregnant and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time God had told him.

³ Abraham ^[a]named his son whom Sarah bore to him Isaac [laughter].

⁴ And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.

⁵ Abraham was a hundred years old when Isaac was born.

⁶ And Sarah said, God has made me to laugh; all who hear will laugh with me.

⁷ And she said, Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children at the breast? For I have borne him a son in his old age!^(A)

⁸ And the child grew and was ^[b]weaned, and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.

⁹ Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking [Isaac].

¹⁰ Therefore she said to Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son, for the son of this bondwoman shall not be an heir with my son Isaac.^(B)

¹¹ And the thing was very grievous (serious, evil) in Abraham’s sight on account of his son [Ishmael].

¹² God said to Abraham, Do not let it seem grievous and evil to you because of the youth and your bondwoman; in all that Sarah has said to you, do what she asks, for in Isaac shall your posterity be called.^(C)

¹³ And I will make a nation of the son of the bondwoman also, because he is your offspring.

¹⁴ So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a bottle of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulders, and he sent her and the ^[c]youth away. And she wandered on [aimlessly] and lost her way in the wilderness of Beersheba.

¹⁵ When the water in the bottle was all gone, Hagar caused the youth to lie down under one of the shrubs.

¹⁶ Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about a bowshot, for she said, Let me not see the death of the lad. And as she sat down opposite him, ^[d]he lifted up his voice and wept and she raised her voice and wept.

¹⁷ And God heard the voice of the youth, and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said to her, What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the youth where he is.

¹⁸ Arise, raise up the youth and support him with your hand, for I intend to make him a great nation.

¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the [empty] bottle with water and caused the youth to drink.

²⁰ And God was with the youth, and he developed; and he dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer.

²¹ He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.

²¹ Tell me, you who are bent on being under the Law, will you listen to what the Law [really] says?

²² For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondmaid and one by the free woman.^(A)

²³ But whereas the child of the slave woman was born according to the flesh and had an ordinary birth, the son of the free woman was born in fulfillment of the promise.

²⁴ Now all this is an allegory; these [two women] represent two covenants. One covenant originated from Mount Sinai [where the Law was given] and bears [children destined] for slavery; this is Hagar.

²⁵ Now Hagar is (stands for) Mount Sinai in Arabia and she corresponds to and belongs in the same category with the present Jerusalem, for she is in bondage together with her children.

²⁶ But the Jerusalem above (^[a]the Messianic kingdom of Christ) is free, and she is our mother.

²⁷ For it is written in the Scriptures, Rejoice, O barren woman, who has not given birth to children; break forth into a joyful shout, you who are not feeling birth pangs, for the desolate woman has many more children than she who has a husband.^(B)

²⁸ But we, brethren, are children [^[b]not by physical descent, as was Ishmael, but] like Isaac, born ^[c]in virtue of promise.

²⁹ Yet [just] as at that time the child [of ordinary birth] born according to the flesh despised and persecuted him [who was born remarkably] according to [the promise and the working of] the [Holy] Spirit, so it is now also.^(C)

³⁰ But what does the Scripture say? Cast out and send away the slave woman and her son, for never shall the son of the slave woman be heir and share the inheritance with the son of the free woman.^(D)

³¹ So, brethren, we [who are born again] are not children of a slave woman [^[d]the natural], but of the free [^[e]the supernatural].

5 In [this] freedom Christ has made us free [and completely liberated us]; stand fast then, and do not be hampered and held ensnared and submit again to a yoke of slavery [which you have once put off].