Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 81[a]
Exhortation To Worship Worthily
1 For the director.[b] “Upon the gittith.” Of Asaph.
2 Sing out your joy to God our strength;
shout aloud to the God of Jacob.[c]
3 Raise the chant and sound the tambourine;
play the pleasant harp and the lyre.
4 Sound the trumpet at the new moon,
and also at the full moon on the day of our Feast.[d]
5 For this is a law in Israel,
a decree of the God of Jacob.
6 He imposed this testimony on Joseph[e]
when he departed from the land of Egypt.
I now hear an unfamiliar voice:
7 “I lifted the burden from their shoulders;
their hands put aside the laborer’s basket.[f]
8 When you cried out to me in distress, I rescued you;[g]
from the thunderclouds I answered you;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah: Selah
9 “ ‘Listen to me, O my people, while I warn you.
O Israel, if only you would listen to me!
10 You must not accept a foreign god in your presence;
you must not bow down to an alien deity.
11 I am the Lord, your God,
who brought you up from the land of Egypt;
open your mouth[h] wide so that I may fill it.’
12 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel refused to obey me.[i]
13 So I abandoned them to their stubborn hearts[j]
and let them follow their own devices.
14 [k]“If only my people would listen to me,
if only Israel would walk in my ways,[l]
15 I would quickly subdue their enemies
and raise my hand[m] against their foes.
16 “Then those who hate the Lord[n] would tremble before him,
for their doom would last forever.
17 But Israel he would feed with the finest of wheat[o]
and fill them with honey from the rock.”
Chapter 24
The Marriage of Isaac.[a] 1 Abraham was now old, well advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed him in everything. 2 Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who supervised his property, “Place your hand under my thigh[b] 3 and swear to the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom we live. 4 Rather, go to my homeland, to my family, and choose a wife for my son Isaac.”
5 The servant asked him, “If the woman does not wish to follow me to this land, should I take your son back to the land from which you came?”
6 Abraham answered him, “Never take my son back there! 7 The Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, who called me out from the house of my father and the land of my birth, spoke to me and promised, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ He himself will send an angel before you so that you can find a wife for my son. 8 If the woman does not wish to follow you, you will be absolved of the oath you have made to me. Only, you must not take my son back there.” 9 The servant placed his hand under the thigh of Abraham, his master, and he swore an oath to him concerning these things.
10 The servant took ten of his master’s camels along with all kinds of different precious objects and he set out and went to Aram-naharaim,[c] to the city of Nahor. 11 He rested the camels outside of the city, near the well, at evening time when the women would go out to draw water.
12 He said, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, grant me success today and be gracious to my master Abraham! 13 Behold, I am in front of the well and the young women of the town are coming out to draw water. 14 That young woman to whom I say, ‘Lower your jug and let me drink,’ and she responds, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels some water too,’ let her be the one you have chosen for Isaac, your servant. By this I will know that you have acted kindly to my master.”
15 He barely finished speaking when Rebekah, who was the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with a jug on her shoulder. 16 The young woman was very pretty and a virgin, never having slept with a man. She went down to the well and filled her jug and came back up.
17 The servant hurried up to her and said, “Please give me some of the water from your jug.”
18 She answered, “Drink, my lord,” and quickly lowered the jug unto her hand and gave him some water to drink.
19 When she had finished letting him drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels as well, until they have finished drinking.” 20 She quickly emptied her jug in the water trough and ran off to draw more water from the well until all the camels had drunk from it. 21 The man watched in silence to see whether or not the Lord would grant success to this quest.
22 When the camels had finished drinking, he took a gold ring weighing half a shekel and fastened it to her nose, and he placed upon her wrists two golden bracelets that weighed ten shekels. 23 Then he said, “Whose daughter are you? Tell me. Do you have room in your house for us to pass the night?”
24 She answered, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son whom Milcah bore to Nahor.” 25 She added, “We have plenty of hay and forage and also a place where you can sleep tonight.”
26 The man knelt and bowed down to the Lord 27 and said, “Blessed be the Lord, God of my master Abraham, who has not ceased being generous and faithful to my master. As for me, the Lord has guided me along the way to the house of the brother of my master.”
Salutation. 1 The Presbyter[a] to the chosen Lady and to her children whom I love in the truth—and not I alone but also all who know the truth 2 because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever. 3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
The Commandment of Love.[b] 4 It was a cause of great joy to me to discover that some of your children have been walking in the truth[c] just as we have been commanded by the Father. 5 [d]But now, Lady, I am making this request of you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment but simply one that we have had from the beginning: let us love one another. 6 And this is love: when we walk according to his commandments.[e] This is the commandment that you have heard from the beginning, and you must follow it.
Warning against False Teachers.[f] 7 Many deceivers have gone forth into the world, those who refuse to acknowledge that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Any such person is the Deceiver[g] and the Antichrist. 8 Be on your guard that you do not lose what we have worked to accomplish so that you will receive your reward in full.[h]
9 Anyone who fails to remain faithful to the teaching of Christ but goes beyond[i] it does not have God. Only the one who remains faithful to the teaching possesses both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not impart this teaching, do not receive him into your house or welcome him.[j] 11 For anyone who welcomes him has a share in his evil deeds.
12 Conclusion. I have much to write to you, but I do not think it prudent to do so with paper and ink.[k] Instead, I hope to visit you and to talk with you face to face so that our joy may be complete.
13 The children of your sister, the chosen one,[l] send you greetings.
Copyright © 2019 by Catholic Book Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.