Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
15 Afterwards Jehovah spoke to Abram in a vision, and this is what he told him: “Don’t be fearful, Abram, for I will defend you. And I will give you great blessings.”
2-3 But Abram replied, “O Lord Jehovah, what good are all your blessings when I have no son? For without a son, some other member of my household[a] will inherit all my wealth.”
4 Then Jehovah told him, “No, no one else will be your heir, for you will have a son to inherit everything you own.”
5 Then God brought Abram outside beneath the nighttime sky and told him, “Look up into the heavens and count the stars if you can. Your descendants will be like that—too many to count!” 6 And Abram believed God; then God considered him righteous on account of his faith.
7 And he told him, “I am Jehovah who brought you out of the city of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land.”
8 But Abram replied, “O Lord Jehovah, how can I be sure that you will give it to me?” 9 Then Jehovah told him to take a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove and a young pigeon, 10 and to slay them and to cut them apart down the middle, and to separate the halves, but not to divide the birds. 11 And when the vultures came down upon the carcasses, Abram shooed them away.
12 That evening as the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a vision of terrible foreboding, darkness, and horror.
17 As the sun went down and it was dark, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch that passed between the halves of the carcasses. 18 So that day Jehovah made this covenant with Abram: “I have given this land to your descendants from the Wadi-el-Arish[a] to the Euphrates River.
27 The Lord is my light and my salvation; he protects me from danger—whom shall I fear? 2 When evil men come to destroy me, they will stumble and fall! 3 Yes, though a mighty army marches against me, my heart shall know no fear! I am confident that God will save me.
4 The one thing I want from God, the thing I seek most of all, is the privilege of meditating in his Temple, living in his presence every day of my life, delighting in his incomparable perfections and glory. 5 There I’ll be when troubles come. He will hide me. He will set me on a high rock 6 out of reach of all my enemies. Then I will bring him sacrifices and sing his praises with much joy.
7 Listen to my pleading, Lord! Be merciful and send the help I need.
8 My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me, O my people.” And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.”
9 Oh, do not hide yourself when I am trying to find you. Do not angrily reject your servant. You have been my help in all my trials before; don’t leave me now. Don’t forsake me, O God of my salvation. 10 For if my father and mother should abandon me, you would welcome and comfort me.
11 Tell me what to do, O Lord, and make it plain because I am surrounded by waiting enemies. 12 Don’t let them get me, Lord! Don’t let me fall into their hands! For they accuse me of things I never did, and all the while are plotting cruelty. 13 I am expecting the Lord to rescue me again, so that once again I will see his goodness to me here in the land of the living.
14 Don’t be impatient. Wait for the Lord, and he will come and save you! Be brave, stouthearted, and courageous. Yes, wait and he will help you.
17 Dear brothers, pattern your lives after mine, and notice who else lives up to my example. 18 For I have told you often before, and I say it again now with tears in my eyes, there are many who walk along the Christian road who are really enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their future is eternal loss, for their god is their appetite: they are proud of what they should be ashamed of; and all they think about is this life here on earth. 20 But our homeland is in heaven, where our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is; and we are looking forward to his return from there. 21 When he comes back, he will take these dying bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same mighty power that he will use to conquer all else everywhere.
4 Dear brother Christians, I love you and long to see you, for you are my joy and my reward for my work. My beloved friends, stay true to the Lord.
31 A few minutes later some Pharisees said to him, “Get out of here if you want to live, for King Herod is after you!”
32 Jesus replied, “Go tell that fox that I will keep on casting out demons and doing miracles of healing today and tomorrow; and the third day I will reach my destination. 33 Yes, today, tomorrow, and the next day! For it wouldn’t do for a prophet of God to be killed except in Jerusalem!
34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The city that murders the prophets. The city that stones those sent to help her. How often I have wanted to gather your children together even as a hen protects her brood under her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. 35 And now—now your house is left desolate. And you will never again see me until you say, ‘Welcome to him who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
28 Eight days later he took Peter, James, and John with him into the hills to pray. 29 And as he was praying, his face began to shine,[a] and his clothes became dazzling white and blazed with light. 30 Then two men appeared and began talking with him—Moses and Elijah! 31 They were splendid in appearance, glorious to see; and they were speaking of his death at Jerusalem, to be carried out in accordance with God’s plan.
32 Peter and the others had been very drowsy and had fallen asleep. Now they woke up and saw Jesus covered with brightness and glory, and the two men standing with him. 33 As Moses and Elijah were starting to leave, Peter, all confused and not even knowing what he was saying, blurted out, “Master, this is wonderful! We’ll put up three shelters—one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah!”
34 But even as he was saying this, a bright cloud formed above them; and terror gripped them as it covered them. 35 And a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him.”
36 Then, as the voice died away, Jesus was there alone with his disciples. They didn’t tell anyone what they had seen until long afterwards.
37 The next day as they descended from the hill, a huge crowd met him, 38 and a man in the crowd called out to him, “Teacher, this boy here is my only son, 39 and a demon keeps seizing him, making him scream; and it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth; it is always hitting him and hardly ever leaves him alone. 40 I begged your disciples to cast the demon out, but they couldn’t.”
41 “O you stubborn faithless people,” Jesus said to his disciples,[a] “how long should I put up with you? Bring him here.”
42 As the boy was coming the demon knocked him to the ground and threw him into a violent convulsion. But Jesus ordered the demon to come out, and healed the boy and handed him over to his father.
43 Awe gripped the people as they saw this display of the power of God.
Meanwhile, as they were exclaiming over all the wonderful things he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples,
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.