Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

15 Some time later the word of Adonai came to Avram in a vision: “Don’t be afraid, Avram. I am your protector; your reward will be very great.” ² Avram replied, “Adonai, God, what good will your gifts be to me if I continue childless; and Eli‘ezer from Dammesek inherits my possessions? ³ You haven’t given me a child,” Avram continued, “so someone born in my house will be my heir.” ⁴ But the word of Adonai came to him: “This man will not be your heir. No, your heir will be a child from your own body.” ⁵ Then he brought him outside and said, “Look up at the sky, and count the stars — if you can count them! Your descendants will be that many!” ⁶ He believed in Adonai, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

11 Trusting^[a] is being confident of what we hope for, convinced about things we do not see. ² It was for this that Scripture attested the merit of the people of old.

³ By trusting, we understand that the universe was created through a spoken word of God, so that what is seen did not come into being out of existing phenomena.

⁸ By trusting, Avraham obeyed, after being called to go out^[a] to a place which God would give him as a possession; indeed, he went out without knowing where he was going. ⁹ By trusting, he lived as a temporary resident in the Land of the promise, as if it were not his, staying in tents with Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov, who were to receive what was promised along with him. ¹⁰ For he was looking forward to the city with permanent foundations, of which the architect and builder is God.

¹¹ By trusting, he received potency to father a child, even when he was past the age for it, as was Sarah herself; because he regarded the One who had made the promise as trustworthy. ¹² Therefore this one man, who was virtually dead, fathered descendants

¹³ All these people kept on trusting until they died, without receiving what had been promised. They had only seen it and welcomed it from a distance, while acknowledging that they were aliens and temporary residents on the earth.^{[c] 14} For people who speak this way make it clear that they are looking for a fatherland. ¹⁵ Now if they were to keep recalling the one they left, they would have an opportunity to return; ¹⁶ but as it is, they aspire to a better fatherland, a heavenly one. This is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

³² Have no fear, little flock, for your Father has resolved to give you the Kingdom! ³³ Sell what you own and do tzedakah — make for yourselves purses that don’t wear out, riches in heaven that never fail, where no burglar comes near, where no moth destroys. ³⁴ For where your wealth is, there your heart will be also.

³⁵ “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit, ³⁶ like people waiting for their master’s return after a wedding feast; so that when he comes and knocks, they will open the door for him without delay. ³⁷ Happy the slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes! Yes! I tell you he will put on his work clothes, seat them at the table, and come serve them himself! ³⁸ Whether it is late at night or early in the morning, if this is how he finds them, those slaves are happy.

³⁹ “But notice this: no house-owner would let his house be broken into if he knew when the thief was coming. ⁴⁰ You too, be ready! For the Son of Man will come when you are not expecting him.”