◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 113 (Praise to God who lifts up the lowly); Genesis 25:19-28 (Rebekah bears Jacob and Esau); Colossians 1:15-20 (Jesus Christ the firstborn of creation) (New American Bible (Revised Edition))

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with thematically matched Old and New Testament readings.

Duration: 1245 days

Psalm 113

Psalm 113^[a]

Praise of God’s Care for the Poor

¹Hallelujah!

I

Praise, you servants of the Lord,
    praise the name of the Lord.^(A)
²Blessed be the name of the Lord
    both now and forever.
³From the rising of the sun to its setting^(B)
    let the name of the Lord be praised.

II

⁴High above all nations is the Lord;
    above the heavens his glory.^(C)
⁵Who is like the Lord our God,
    enthroned on high,
⁶    ^(D)looking down on heaven and earth?
⁷He raises the needy from the dust,
    lifts the poor from the ash heap,^(E)
⁸Seats them with princes,
    the princes of the people,
⁹Gives the childless wife a home,
    the joyful mother of children.^(F)
Hallelujah!

Genesis 25:19-28

Birth of Esau and Jacob. ¹⁹^[a]These are the descendants of Isaac, son of Abraham; Abraham begot Isaac. ²⁰Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram^[b] and the sister of Laban the Aramean.^(A) ²¹Isaac entreated the Lord on behalf of his wife, since she was sterile. The Lord heard his entreaty, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. ²²But the children jostled each other in the womb so much that she exclaimed, “If it is like this,^[c] why go on living!” She went to consult the Lord, ²³and the Lord answered her:

Two nations are in your womb,
two peoples are separating while still within you;
But one will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.^[d]^(B)

²⁴When the time of her delivery came, there were twins in her womb.^(C) ²⁵The first to emerge was reddish,^[e] and his whole body was like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau. ²⁶Next his brother came out, gripping Esau’s heel;^[f] so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.^(D)

²⁷When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country; whereas Jacob was a simple^[g] man, who stayed among the tents.^(E) ²⁸Isaac preferred Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah preferred Jacob.

Footnotes

25:19–36:43 The Jacob cycle is introduced as the family history of Isaac (Jacob’s father), just as the Abraham stories were introduced as the record of the descendants of Terah (Abraham’s father, 11:27). The cycle, made up of varied stories, is given unity by several recurring themes: birth, blessing and inheritance, which are developed through the basic contrasts of barrenness/fertility, non-blessing/blessing, and inheritance/exile/homeland. The large story has an envelope structure in which Jacob’s youth is spent in Canaan striving with his older brother Esau (25:19–28:22), his early adulthood in Paddan-aram building a family and striving with his brother-in-law Laban (chaps. 29–31), and his later years back in Canaan (chaps. 32–36).
25:20 Paddan-aram: the name used by the Priestly tradition for the northwest region of Mesopotamia, between the Habur and the Euphrates rivers. In Assyrian, padana is a road or a garden, and Aram refers to the people or the land of the Arameans. The equivalent geographical term in the Yahwist source is Aram Naharaim, “Aram between two rivers.”
25:22 If it is like this: in Hebrew, the phrase lamah zeh is capable of several meanings; it occurs again in v. 32 (“What good…?”), 32:30 (“Why do you want…?”), and 33:15 (“For what reason?”). It is one of several words and motifs that run through the story, suggesting that a divine pattern (unknown to the actors) is at work.
25:23 The older will serve the younger: Rebekah now knows something that no one else knows, that God favors Jacob over Esau. The text does not say if she shared this knowledge with anyone or kept it to herself, but, from their actions, it seems unlikely that either Isaac or Esau knew. That fact must be borne in mind in assessing Rebekah’s role in chap. 27, the theft of Esau’s blessing.
25:25 Reddish: in Hebrew, ’admoni, a reference to Edom, another name for Esau (v. 30; 36:1). Edom was also the name of the country south of Moab (southeast of the Dead Sea) where the descendants of Esau lived. It was called the “red” country because of its reddish sandstone. Moreover, “red” points ahead to the red stew in the next scene. Hairy: in Hebrew, se‘ar, a reference to Seir, another name for Edom (36:8).
25:26 Heel: in Hebrew ‘aqeb, a wordplay on the name Jacob; cf. 27:36. The first of three scenes of striving with Esau. The second is vv. 27–34, and the third, chap. 27. In all the scenes, Jacob values the blessing more than his ardent but unreflective brother Esau does.
25:27 Simple: the Hebrew word denotes soundness, integrity, health, none of which fit here. Whatever its precise meaning, it must be opposite to the qualities of Esau.

Colossians 1:15-20

II. The Preeminence of Christ

His Person and Work

¹⁵^[a]He is the image^[b] of the invisible God,
    the firstborn of all creation.^(A)
¹⁶For in him^[c] were created all things in heaven and on earth,
    the visible and the invisible,
    whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers;
    all things were created through him and for him.^(B)
¹⁷He is before all things,
    and in him all things hold together.
¹⁸He is the head of the body, the church.^[d]
    He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
    that in all things he himself might be preeminent.^(C)
¹⁹For in him all the fullness^[e] was pleased to dwell,
²⁰and through him to reconcile all things for him,
    making peace by the blood of his cross^[f]
    [through him], whether those on earth or those in heaven.^(D)

Footnotes

1:15–20 As the poetic arrangement indicates, these lines are probably an early Christian hymn, known to the Colossians and taken up into the letter from liturgical use (cf. Phil 2:6–11; 1 Tm 3:16). They present Christ as the mediator of creation (Col 1:15–18a) and of redemption (Col 1:18b–20). There is a parallelism between firstborn of all creation (Col 1:15) and firstborn from the dead (Col 1:18). While many of the phrases were at home in Greek philosophical use and even in gnosticism, the basic ideas also reflect Old Testament themes about Wisdom found in Prv 8:22–31; Wis 7:22–8:1; and Sir 1:4. See also notes on what is possibly a hymn in Jn 1:1–18.
1:15 Image: cf. Gn 1:27. Whereas the man and the woman were originally created in the image and likeness of God (see also Gn 1:26), Christ as image (2 Cor 4:4) of the invisible God (Jn 1:18) now shares this new nature in baptism with those redeemed (cf. Col 3:10–11).
1:16–17 Christ (though not mentioned by name) is preeminent and supreme as God’s agent in the creation of all things (cf. Jn 1:3), as prior to all things (Col 1:17; cf. Hb 1:3).
1:18 Church: such a reference seemingly belongs under “redemption” in the following lines, not under the “creation” section of the hymn. Stoic thought sometimes referred to the world as “the body of Zeus.” Pauline usage is to speak of the church as the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:12–27; Rom 12:4–5). Some think that the author of Colossians has inserted the reference to the church here so as to define “head of the body” in Paul’s customary way. See Col 1:24. Preeminent: when Christ was raised by God as firstborn from the dead (cf. Acts 26:23; Rev 1:5), he was placed over the community, the church, that he had brought into being, but he is also indicated as crown of the whole new creation, over all things. His further role is to reconcile all things (Col 1:20) for God or possibly “to himself.”
1:19 Fullness: in gnostic usage this term referred to a spiritual world of beings above, between God and the world; many later interpreters take it to refer to the fullness of the deity (Col 2:9); the reference could also be to the fullness of grace (cf. Jn 1:16).
1:20 The blood of his cross: the most specific reference in the hymn to redemption through Christ’s death, a central theme in Paul; cf. Col 2:14–15; 1 Cor 1:17, 18, 23. [Through him]: the phrase, lacking in some manuscripts, seems superfluous but parallels the reference to reconciliation through Christ earlier in the verse.

New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 113^[a]

Praise of God’s Care for the Poor

I

II

Footnotes

Cross references

Footnotes

Cross references

II. The Preeminence of Christ

His Person and Work

Footnotes

Cross references

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 113[a]

Praise of God’s Care for the Poor

I

II

Footnotes

Cross references

Footnotes

Cross references

II. The Preeminence of Christ

His Person and Work

Footnotes

Cross references

Psalm 113^[a]