Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 20[a]
For the music director, a psalm of David.
20 May the Lord answer[b] you[c] when you are in trouble;[d]
may the God of Jacob[e] make you secure.
2 May he send you help from his temple;[f]
from Zion may he give you support.
3 May he take notice of[g] all your offerings;
may he accept[h] your burnt sacrifice. (Selah)
4 May he grant your heart’s desire;[i]
may he bring all your plans to pass.[j]
5 Then we will shout for joy over your[k] victory;
we will rejoice[l] in the name of our God.
May the Lord grant all your requests.
6 Now I am sure[m] that the Lord will deliver[n] his chosen king;[o]
he will intervene for him[p] from his holy, heavenly temple,[q]
and display his mighty ability to deliver.[r]
7 Some trust in chariots and others in horses,[s]
but we[t] depend on[u] the Lord our God.
8 They will fall down,[v]
but we[w] will stand firm.[x]
9 The Lord will deliver the king;[y]
he will answer us[z] when we call to him for help![aa]
The Obedience of Abram
12 Now the Lord said[a] to Abram,[b]
“Go out[c] from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household
to the land that I will show you.[d]
2 Then I will make you[e] into a great nation, and I will bless you,[f]
and I will make your name great,[g]
so that you will exemplify divine blessing.[h]
3 I will bless those who bless you,[i]
but the one who treats you lightly[j] I must curse,
so that all the families of the earth may receive blessing[k] through you.”
4 So Abram left,[l] just as the Lord had told him to do,[m] and Lot went with him. (Now[n] Abram was 75 years old[o] when he departed from Haran.) 5 And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew[p] Lot, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired[q] in Haran, and they left for[r] the land of Canaan. They entered the land of Canaan.
6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the oak tree[s] of Moreh[t] at Shechem.[u] (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.)[v] 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants[w] I will give this land.” So Abram[x] built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
People Commended for Their Faith
11 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see. 2 For by it the people of old[a] received God’s commendation.[b] 3 By faith we understand that the worlds[c] were set in order at God’s command,[d] so that the visible has its origin in the invisible.[e] 4 By faith Abel offered God a greater sacrifice than Cain, and through his faith[f] he was commended as righteous, because God commended him for his offerings. And through his faith[g] he still speaks, though he is dead. 5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death, and he was not to be found because God took him up. For before his removal he had been commended as having pleased God. 6 Now without faith it is impossible to please him, for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7 By faith Noah, when he was warned about things not yet seen, with reverent regard[h] constructed an ark for the deliverance of his family. Through faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place he would later receive as an inheritance, and he went out without understanding where he was going. 9 By faith he lived as a foreigner[i] in the promised land as though it were a foreign country, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were fellow heirs[j] of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with firm foundations,[k] whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faith, even though Sarah herself was barren and he was too old,[l] he received the ability to procreate,[m] because he regarded the one who had given the promise to be trustworthy. 12 So in fact children[n] were fathered by one man—and this one as good as dead—like the number of stars in the sky and like the innumerable grains of sand[o] on the seashore.[p]
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