Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

My Help Comes from the Lord

A Song of ^(A)Ascents.

⁴³ Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day for these my daughters or for their children whom they have borne? ⁴⁴ Come now, ^(A)let us make a covenant, you and I. ^(B)And let it be a witness between you and me.” ⁴⁵ So Jacob ^(C)took a stone and set it up as a pillar. ⁴⁶ And Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. ⁴⁷ Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha,^[a] but Jacob called it Galeed.^{[b] 48} Laban said, ^(D)“This heap is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore he named it Galeed, ^49 (E)and Mizpah,^[c] for he said, “The Lord watch between you and me, when we are out of one another's sight. ⁵⁰ If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, ^(F)God is witness between you and me.”

⁵¹ Then Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me. ^52 (G)This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm. ⁵³ The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the ^(H)Fear of his father Isaac, ⁵⁴ and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called ^(I)his kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country.

^55 [d] Early in the morning Laban arose and kissed ^(J)his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home.

Jacob Fears Esau

32 Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ² And when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God's ^(K)camp!” So he called the name of that place ^(L)Mahanaim.^[e]

A Worker Approved by God

¹⁴ Remind them of these things, and ^(A)charge them before God^{[a] (B)}not to quarrel about words, ^(C)which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. ¹⁵ Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved,^[b] a worker ^(D)who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. ¹⁶ But ^(E)avoid ^(F)irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, ¹⁷ and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are ^(G)Hymenaeus and Philetus, ¹⁸ who have swerved from the truth, ^(H)saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. ¹⁹ But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: ^(I)“The Lord knows those who are his”, and, “Let everyone ^(J)who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”

²⁰ Now in ^(K)a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, ^(L)some for honourable use, some for dishonourable. ²¹ Therefore, ^(M)if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonourable,^[c] he will be a vessel for honourable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ^(N)ready for every good work.

²² So ^(O)flee ^(P)youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with ^(Q)those who call on the Lord ^(R)from a pure heart. ²³ Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant ^(S)controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. ²⁴ And ^(T)the Lord's servant^[d] must not be quarrelsome but ^(U)kind to everyone, ^(V)able to teach, patiently enduring evil, ²⁵ correcting his opponents ^(W)with gentleness. God ^(X)may perhaps grant them repentance ^(Y)leading to a knowledge of the truth, ²⁶ and they may come to their senses and escape from ^(Z)the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.