Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
12 ·Happy [Blessed] is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people he chose for his ·very own [L inheritance; Ex. 19:5].
13 The Lord looks down from heaven
and sees every person.
14 From his throne he watches
all who live on earth.
15 He ·made [fashions all] their hearts
and understands everything they do.
16 No king is saved by his ·great [large] army.
No warrior ·escapes [is rescued/T delivered] by his great strength.
17 Horses ·can’t bring [are a vain hope for] victory;
they can’t save by their strength.
18 But the ·Lord looks after [L eye of the Lord is on] those who fear him,
those who ·put their hope [wait on him] in his ·love [loyalty; covenant love].
19 He ·saves [rescues; T delivers] ·them [their soul] from death
and ·spares their lives in times of hunger [revives them in famine].
20 So our hope is in the Lord.
He is our help, our shield to protect us.
21 ·We [L Our hearts] rejoice in him,
because we ·trust [have confidence in] his holy name.
22 Lord, ·show your love to us [L let your loyalty/covenant love be on us]
as we ·put our hope in [wait for] you.
The Story of Terah’s Family
27 ·This is the family history [L These are the generations; 2:4] of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran was the father of Lot. 28 While his father, Terah, was still alive, Haran died in Ur [C a major city in southern Mesopotamia] ·in Babylonia [L of the Chaldeans; C Chaldea was another name for Babylon], where he was born. 29 Abram and Nahor both ·married [L took wives]. Abram’s wife was named Sarai, and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah. She was the daughter of Haran, who was the father of both Milcah and Iscah. 30 Sarai ·was not able to have children [was barren; had no children].
31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai (Abram’s wife) and moved out of Ur of ·Babylonia [L the Chaldeans; 11:28]. They had planned to go to the land of Canaan, but when they reached the city of Haran [C a city in northern Syria], they settled there.
32 Terah lived to be 205 years old, and then he died in Haran.
God Is More Important than Money(A)
19 “Don’t store treasures for yourselves here on earth where moths and rust will destroy them and thieves can break in and steal them. 20 But store ·your [for yourselves] treasures in heaven where they cannot be destroyed by moths or rust and where thieves cannot break in and steal them. 21 Your heart will be where your treasure is.
22 “The eye is ·a light [L the lamp] for the body. If your eyes are ·good [healthy; clear], your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are ·evil [unhealthy; bad], your whole body will be full of darkness. And if the ·only light you have [or light you think you have; L light in you] is really darkness, then ·you have the worst darkness [how great that darkness is!].
24 “No one can serve two ·masters [lords]. The person will hate one master and love the other, or will ·follow [be devoted/loyal to] one master and ·refuse to follow [despise] the other. You cannot serve both God and ·worldly riches [money; L mammon].
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